For Fools Only

“Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.”

He never got angry, never argued, as if he could see absolutely no point in trying to make someone else agree with him, as if, for him, everyone was lost, so how could one lost person presume to show another the way. Especially since the way, as well as being hidden from everyone, probably didn't even exist.

“Thank god there is no god. Because to believe in him would be to acknowledge he doesn’t like me much.”

Shall I tell you about my spirit, full of anguish, Or the hardships that I have endured during exile? Have you the courage to stay when my soul sinks into sorrow, Or shall we talk of you, not speaking of my despair?

To die as much as necessary. […] To grow back as much as needed.

If you’re serious about liberation, then you sacrifice career, you sacrifice upward mobility, you sacrifice access, you sacrifice awards, you sacrifice prestige, you sacrifice adulation.  In short, you sacrifice the convenience of easy solutions.   I don’t want to be anybody’s goddamn mayor.  That’s my contribution to the cause.  Surely there will be remonstration along these lines:  “But you need to get the message out to people!”  I don’t find it to be a convincing argument mainly because while it’s true that audiences need different voices to educate them, in the examples I witness it is the messenger who is impressionable to the audience.  In many cases, the purpose isn’t to spread messages, but to capitalize on the value of a following. 

“It is, in fact, far easier to act under conditions of tyranny than it is to think.”

"Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. In those transparent moments, we know other people’s joys and sorrows, and we care about their concerns as if they were our own."

"Just imagine living in a world without mirrors. You’d dream about your face and imagine it as an outer reflection of what is inside you. And then, when you reached forty, someone put a mirror before you for the first time in your life. Imagine your fright! You’d see the face of a stranger. And you’d know quite clearly what you are unable to grasp: your face is not you."

“The more there is evil in the world, the more we have reasons to create beauty. It is doubtless harder, but it is also more necessary.”

“A Game Master or teacher who was primarily concerned with being close enough to the ‘innermost meaning’ would be a very bad teacher. To be candid, I myself, for example, have never in my life said a word to my pupils about the 'meaning’ of music; if there is one it does not need my explanations. On the other hand I have always made a great point of having my pupils count their eighths and sixteenths nicely. Whatever you become, teacher, scholar, or musician, have respect for the 'meaning’ but do not imagine that it can be taught.”

“Should we be mindful of dreams?" Joseph asked. "Can we interpret them?"