#in

Right now I feel guilty to be alive. Why? Because I’m wasting it. I’ve been given this life and all I do is mope it away. What’s worse is, I am totally aware of how ridiculous I am. It would be a lot easier if I believed I was the center of the universe, because then I wouldn’t know any better NOT to make a big deal out of everything. I know how small my problems are, yet that doesn’t stop me from obsessing about them. I have to stop doing this. How do other people get happy? I look at people laughing and smiling and enjoying themselves and try to get inside their heads. How do Bridget, Manda, and Sara do it? Or Pepe? Or EVERYONE but me? Why does everything I see bother me? Why can’t I just get over these daily wrongdoings? Why can’t I just move on and make the best of what I’ve got? I wish I knew. ↗

— Megan McCafferty

#megan-mccafferty #sloppy-firsts #life

I think no more than a week after I started writing I ran into the first block. It's hard to describe it in a way that will be understandable to anyone who is not a neurotic. I will try. All my life I have been haunted by the obsession that to desire a thing or to love a thing intensely is to place yourself in a vulnerable position, to be a possible, if not a probable, loser of what you most want. Let's leave it like that. That block has always been there and always will be, and my chance of getting, or achieving, anything that I long for will always be gravely reduced by the interminable existence of that block. ↗

— Tennessee Williams

#life

To have the beginning of a truly great story, you need to have a character you're completely and utterly obsessed with. Without obsession, to the point of a maddening addiction,there's no point to continue. ↗

— Jennifer Salaiz

#madness #obsession #writing #obsession

How do I know what I think until I see what I say? ↗

— E.M. Forster

#e-m-forster #essay #fiction #writing #fiction

Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment. ↗

— William Goldman

#consequence #identity #importance #inquisitiveness #identity

Name one hero who was happy." I considered. Heracles went mad and killed his family; Theseus lost his bride and father; Jason's children and new wife were murdered by his old; Bellerophon killed the Chimera but was crippled by the fall from Pegasus' back. "You can't." He was sitting up now, leaning forward. "I can't." "I know. They never let you be famous AND happy." He lifted an eyebrow. "I'll tell you a secret." "Tell me." I loved it when he was like this. "I'm going to be the first." He took my palm and held it to his. "Swear it." "Why me?" "Because you're the reason. Swear it." "I swear it," I said, lost in the high color of his cheeks, the flame in his eyes. "I swear it," he echoed. We sat like that a moment, hands touching. He grinned. "I feel like I could eat the world raw. ↗

— Madeline Miller

#happiness #heroes #love #mythology #oaths

The deeper I go into myself the more I realize that I am my own enemy. ↗

— Floriano Martins

#identity #introspection #self #self-discovery #identity

We are one now, little brother, you and I," Sebastian said. "We are one. ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#cliffhanger #jace-lightwood #jonathon-morgenstern #meanest-ending-in-history #sebastian-verlac

What has God given you? Moses had a stick, David had a slingshot, and Paul had a pen. Mother Teresa possessed a love for the poor; Billy Graham, a gift for preaching; and Joni Eareckson Tada, a disability. What did they have in common? A willingness to let God use whatever they had, even when it didn't seem very useful. If you will assess what you have to offer in terms of your time, your treasure, and your talents, you will have a better understanding of how you might uniquely serve. The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns ↗

— Richard Stearns

#inspirational

The problem with introspection is that it has no end. ↗

— Philip K. Dick

#ego #infinity #introspection #meditation #self