#ness

so here i sit. a sum of the parts. about a third way down this wonderful path, so to speak. and i've been thinking lately about a friendship that fell apart with time, with distance, and with the misunderstanding of youth. i'm trying not to confuse sadness with regret. not the easiest thing at times. i dont regret that certain things happened. i understand that perhaps i had a choice in the matter, or perhaps i believe in fate. probably not, but so far actions as small as the quickest glance to events as monumental as death have pushed me slowly along to right here, right now. there was no other way to get here. the meandering and erratic path was actually the straightest of lines. take away a handful of angry words, things once thought of as mistakes or regrets, and i'm suddenly a different person with a different history, a different future. that, i would regret. so here i sit. thinking about a person i once called my best friends. a man who might be full of sadness and regret, who might not give a damn, or who might, just might, remember the future and realize that's where its at. ↗

— Chris Wright

#fate #friendship #future #inspirational-quotes #life

But you can't get away from yourself. You can't decide not to see yourself anymore. You can't decide to turn off the noise in your head. ↗

— Jay Asher

#self-awareness #reason

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#conformity #fool #foolishness #law #rule

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." (1962) ↗

— John F. Kennedy

#political-rights #protest #revolution #violence #violence

The disempowered mind believes dreams come true; the empowered mind knows you bring your dreams to life. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#dream #empowerment #happiness #life #success

A nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its laws made by cowards and its wars fought by fools. ↗

— Thucydides

#well-roundedness #law

We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer. ↗

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

#empathy #kindness #suffering #understanding-others #suffering

There is the solitude of suffering, when you go through darkness that is lonely, intense, and terrible. Words become powerless to express your pain; what others hear from your words is so distant and different from what you are actually suffering. ↗

— John O'Donohue

#suffering #suffering

I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of people and then me, on the outside. Because how do you meet a new person? I was very stunned by this for many years. And then I realized, you just say, "Hi." They may ignore you. Or you may marry them. And that possibility is worth that one word. ↗

— Augusten Burroughs

#lonliness #opportunity #risk #social-anxiety #opportunity

It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others. ↗

— Jane Austen

#intimacy #marianne-dashwood #openness #opportunity #self-disclosure