#den

To be sane, he held, was either to be sedated by melancholy or activated by hysteria, two responses which were 'always and equally warranted for those of sound insight'. All others were irrational, merely symptoms of imaginations left idle, of memories out of work. And above these mundane responses, the only elevation allowable, the only valid transcendence, was a sardonic one: a bliss that annihilated the universe with jeers of dark joy, a mindful ecstasy. Anything else in the way of 'mysticism' was a sign of deviation or distraction, and a heresy to the obvious. (“The Medusa”) ↗

— Thomas Ligotti

#insanity #melancholy #mysticism #sanity #sardonic

I love man as my fellow; but his scepter, real, or usurped, extends not to me, unless the reason of an individual demands my homage; and even then the submission is to reason, and not to man. ↗

— Mary Wollstonecraft

#equality #freedom #gender #independence #men

We can either emphasize those aspects of our traditions, religious or secular, that speak of hatred, exclusion, and suspicion or work with those that stress the interdependence and equality of all human beings. The choice is yours. (22) ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#choice #equality #exclusion #hatred #inclusion

No: I shall not marry Samuel Fawthrop Wynne." "I ask why? I must have a reason. In all respects he is more than worthy of you." She stood on the hearth; she was pale as the white marble slab and cornice behind her; her eyes flashed large, dilated, unsmiling. "And I ask in what sense that young man is worthy of me? ↗

— Charlotte Brontë

#courtship #dignity #empowerment #equality #feminism

For existential mathematics, which does not exist, would probably propose this equation: the value of coincidence equals the degree of its improbability. ↗

— Milan Kundera

#coincidence #equality

For everyone you create to be dependent on you, you are equally dependent on them. Neither relationship is healthy. ↗

— Alan Cohen

#healthy-living #equality

We, Equality 7-2521, were not happy in those year in the Home of the Students. It was not that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy. This is a great sin, to be born with a head which is too quick. It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them. The Teachers told us so, and they frowned when they looked at us. ↗

— Ayn Rand

#individuality #intelligence #objectivism #schooling #students

The fact that the Constitution is sufficiently open-ended to infuriate all Americans almost equally is part of its enduring genius. ↗

— Dahlia Lithwick

#jurisprudence #slate #equality

Don't say Fili, sister. Say Pili. In Tagalog, pili means to choose. Pino means fine. Pilipino equals 'fine choice. ↗

— Jessica Hagedorn The Gangster of Love

#filipino-authors #identity #nationality #equality

The worst of all was to be faced with the interrogation technique of Thirty Seconds. The interrogator would say something and you had to respond quickly, without once repeating yourself or using the personal pronoun. Very few dissidents could last the full thirty seconds, and a refusal to comply was taken as equal proof of dissidence. ↗

— H.M. Forester

#interrogation #equality