#ali

Look, America is no more a democracy than Russia is a Communist state. The governments of the U.S. and Russia are practically the same. There's only a difference of degree. We both have the same basic form of government: economic totalitarianism. In other words, the settlement to all questions, the solutions to all issues are determined not by what will make the people most healthy and happy in the bodies and their minds but by economics. Dollars or rubles. Economy uber alles. Let nothing interfere with economic growth, even though that growth is castrating truth, poisoning beauty, turning a continent into a shit-heap and riving an entire civilization insane. Don't spill the Coca-Cola, boys, and keep those monthly payments coming. ↗

— Tom Robbins

#capitalism #economics #beauty

Although healing brings a better life, it also threatens to permanently alter life as you’ve known it. Your relationships, your position in the world, even your sense of identity may change. Coping patterns that have served you for a lifetime will be called into question. When you make the commitment to heal, you risk losing much of what is familiar. As a result one part of you may want to heal while another resists change.” Courage to Heal Workbook by Laura Davis ↗

— Laura Davis

#child-sexual-abuse #commitment #copy #healing #identity

I'm an oddity of one, my strangeness too complicated to explain or share. ↗

— Libba Bray

#gemma-doyle #individuality #libba-bray #quirks #uniqueness

The first time someone else touched me with the intent to pleasure, I fell in love. Not with that person, but with the act itself. Such intimacy and accord. Even with the awkwardness of first time lovers there was a grace and purity, carnal and beautiful that I knew from that moment on I could never live without. ↗

— Fiona Zedde

#love #sex #sexuality #beauty

There's no need to curse God if you're an ugly duckling. He chooses those strong enough to endure it so that they can guide others who've felt the same. ↗

— Criss Jami

#beautiful-people #curse #duck #duckling #endure

Rev. Pat Robertson says that if more states legalize gay marriage, God will destroy America. He did say that afterwards, gays will come in and do a beautiful renovation. ↗

— Conan O'Brien

#pat-robertson #political-humor #beauty

...but don't tell me I'm not sensitive to beauty. That's my Achilles' heel, and don't you forget it. To me, everything is beautiful. Show me a pink sunset and I'm limp, by God... ↗

— J.D. Salinger

#franny-and-zooey #j-d-salinger #jd-salinger #life #literature

The desire for a strong faith is not the proof of a strong faith, rather the opposite. If one has it one may permit oneself the beautiful luxury of skepticism: one is secure enough, fixed enough for it. ↗

— Friedrich Nietzsche

#existentialism #faith #beauty

Many survivors insist they’re not courageous: ‘If I were courageous I would have stopped the abuse.’ ‘If I were courageous, I wouldn’t be scared’... Most of us have it mixed up. You don’t start with courage and then face fear. You become courageous because you face your fear.” The Courage to Heal Workbook by Laura Davis ↗

— Laura Davis

#child-sexual-abuse #courage #fear #healing #mental-health

You can recognize survivors of abuse by their courage. When silence is so very inviting, they step forward and share their truth so others know they aren't alone. ↗

— Jeanne McElvaney

#abuse-survivors #childhood-abuse #childhood-sexual-abuse #effects-of-child-abuse #harrietta-s-happenstance