Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender.

There’s a poisonous double standard in our society which says that it’s reverse-sexist and wrong for women to feel threatened by creepy-awkward male behaviour because our fear implies that we hold the negative, stereotypical view that All Men Are Predators, but that if we’re raped or sexually assaulted by any man with whom we’ve had prior social interaction – and particularly if he’s expressed some sexual or romantic interest in us during that time – it’s reasonable for observers to ask what precautions we took to prevent the assault from happening, or to suggest that we maybe led the guy on by not stating our feelings plainly. The result is a situation where women are punished if we reject, avoid or identify creepy men, and then told it’s our fault if we’re assaulted by someone we plainly ought to have rejected, avoided, identified.

Nobody really owns anything. We give back our bodies at the end of our lives. We own our thoughts, but everything else is just borrowed

It was always late at night, when everything and everyone else was quiet, that those voices would rise like ghosts, soft and haunting, filling your mind until sleep finally came.

And so, being young and dipt in folly
I fell in love with melancholy

Regardless of the staggering dimensions of the world about us, the density of our ignorance, the risks of catastrophes to come, and our individual weakness within the immense collectivity, the fact remains that we are absolutely free today if we choose to will our existence in its finiteness, a finiteness which is open on the infinite. And in fact, any man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires, and real will knows quite well that he has no need of any outside guarantee to be sure of his goals; their certitude comes from his own drive.

(via santini-houdini)

You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.

R.I.P the 2,976 Americans who lost their lives on 9/11 and the 48,644 Afghan and 1,690,903 Iraqi people who paid the ultimate price for a crime they did not commit, as well as the tens of thousands of Palestinians who experience this everyday.

aseaofquotes:

Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

(via newyorktolondon-deactivated2012)

I’m really sad because I don’t like my hair or my face or my clothes or my entire existence, really. I wish I could physically portray my sadness and anger but I only end up smiling and laughing about everything in a subconscious attempt to thwart others from worrying about me.

There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.

Be soft.

Do not let the world make you hard.

Do not let pain make you hate.

Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.

Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.

Is devotion to others a cover for the hungers and the needs of the self, of which one is ashamed? I was always ashamed to take. So I gave. It was not a virtue. It was a disguise.

We are in a world that is connected, but is not communicating.