aseaofquotes:

Kirsten Hubbard, Wanderlove

The first title of Episode 16, “Sickness unto death, and…”, is a reference to a book by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. The novel says physical death is nothing to fear but mental death is. The “Sickness unto Death” is the mental death, called despair. Despair is a misrelation between the physical and mental elements of humans. In the episode when Shinji is talking with Leliel about his own despair. Shinji runs away from things he does not like and clings to the praises he receives. All of the forms of despair, according to Kierkegaard, involve a failure to be a human being in the fullest possible sense. Shinji does not believe himself to be worth anything except for his Eva pilot status. According to some, Kierkegaard’s main message is that we cannot rely on other people on the world to provide us with answers to the most basic moral and philosophical questions. We as individuals are the ones who will have to live with our personal decisions so we must act according to our own personal convictions.

aseaofquotes:

Don Winslow, Savages

Optimism? No, none. I only want to express the black part of me, the part of me that’s twisted. When something is fun, it’s fun for only that moment, right. But the bad stuff, the pain, we bring it with us for days. And depending on how deep the wound, we might not be able to forget for a year or two. First off, it’s impossible for anyone to sustain fun for two years. In short, I have no interest in expressing the ethereal.

Like all illnesses that have a name, it is not unique to the person who has it. And so the disadvantage of naming it is that this makes her seem unexceptional, just a case conforming to a clinical category. To name the illness is to begin a process of description which can demote her extraordinary personality to a collection of symptoms, or to reduce her writing to an exercise in therapy.

aseaofquotes:

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

You cannot save people, you can only love them.

The self which, in his despair, he wants to be is a self he is not – to want to be the self he truly is, is the opposite of despair; but he wants to tear his self away from the power that established it.

Wanting is more pleasurable than having.

Make sure your sexuality is the last thing you describe yourself as because you’re so much more than what you put in your mouth.

Someday, somewhere - anywhere, unfailingly, you’ll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.

Every form of hate is self-hate.

aseaofquotes:

Sophie Kinsella, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

Think of how many people have sat next to you on a bus, train, whatever. Now think how many people have sat next to you on purpose with their fingers crossed in hope that you’ll talk to them. I’m sure somebody has. There’s plenty of times when somebody’s seen you and hoped that you spoke to them, but you never did because you don’t have the guts and neither do they. Don’t go around thinking nobody likes you and that you’re not loved. There’s been plenty of times when a stranger has spotted you and thought “Oh, they’re just my type” but haven’t had the courage or confidence to open their mouth and initiate a conversation. The funny thing is, neither have you.

aseaofquotes:

Nicholas Sparks, A Message in a Bottle