#truism

Such is frequently the fate, and such the stern development, of the feminine character and person, when the woman has encountered, and lived through, an experience of peculiar severity. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If she survive, the tenderness will either be crushed out of her, or--and the outward semblance is the same--crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more. ↗

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

#experience

In the unceasing ebb and flow of justice and oppression we must all dig channels as best we may, that at the propitious moment somewhat of the swelling tide may be conducted to the barren places of life. ↗

— Jane Addams

#inspirational #justice #oppression #social-justice #inspirational

The most altruistic and sustainable philosophies fail before the brute brain stem imperative of self-interest. ↗

— Peter Watts

#brutality #life-philosophy #self-interest #life

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. ↗

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

#creative #darkness #decide #destructive #every

I'm not a legend or a hero, I don't slay dragons, I don't do any of the things that a real hero can. But I can make things better, one day at a time, for most of the kingdom. ↗

— Mercedes Lackey

#heroes #heroism #heroism