graceykio

We are all primary numbers divisible only by ourselves. We sometimes feel that we have been really understood, but it was always long ago, by someone now dead. The body is a house of many windows: there we all sit, showing ourselves and crying on the passers-by to come and love us. Every man has a mob self and an individual self, in varying proportions. To wash one's hair, make one's toilet, and put on scented robes; even if not a soul sees one, these preparations still produce an inner pleasure. Man is never alone. Acknowledged or unacknowledged, that which dreams through him is always there to support him from within. Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. Think positively about yourself.... ask God who made you to keep on remaking you. Each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against ourselves.

I was right not to be afraid of any thief but myself, who will end by leaving me nothing. The only man we have any respect for, is he who uses all the endowment he has, and uses it until he bleeds. And remember, no matter where you go, there you are. There are at least two kinds of cowards. One kind always lives with himself, afraid to face the world. The other kind lives with the world, afraid to face himself. So you are lean and mean and resourceful and you continue to walk on the edge of the precipice because over the years you have become fascinated by how close you can walk without losing your balance.

My life has been one great big joke, A dance that's walked, A song that's spoke, I laugh so hard I almost choke, When I think about myself. What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one's self. It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. The words "I am" are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you're claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you. Sometimes at night I light a lamp so as not to see. All men are sculptors, constantly chipping away the unwanted parts of their lives, trying to create their idea of a masterpiece. I feel my body, my mind, weighted down - all is heavy - but my blood, my inner fire, my passion, the little unburdened kid in me, patiently wait to burst free. Some of us die never having burst. At this very moment, you may be saying to yourself that you have any number of admirable qualities. You are a loyal friend, a caring person, someone who is smart, dependable, fun to be around. That's wonderful, and I'm happy for you, but let me ask you this: are you being any of those things to yourself? Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny. Misfortunes one can endure - they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one's own faults - ah! there is the sting of life.

Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, "This I am today; that I will be tomorrow."