Nathan Walton > Nathan Walton's Quotes

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#1

“The Angel blade burns you, just as God's name chokes you," said Valentine, his cool voice sharp as crystal. "They say that those who die upon its point will achieve the gates of heaven. In which case, revenant, I am doing you a favor." He lowered the blade so that the tip touched Simon's throat. Valentine's eyes were the color of black water and there was nothing in them: no anger, no compassion, not even any hate. They were empty as a hollowed-out grave. "Any last words?"
Simon knew what he was supposed to say. Sh'ma Yisrael, adonai elohanu, adonai echod. Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. He tried to speak the words, but a searing pain burned his throat.
"Clary," he whispered instead.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

tags: clary-fray, last-words, simon-lewis, valentine-morgenstern

274 likes

#2

“A NATION'S GREATNESS DEPENDS ON ITS LEADER

To vastly improve your country and truly make it great again, start by choosing a better leader. Do not let the media or the establishment make you pick from the people they choose, but instead choose from those they do not pick. Pick a leader from among the people who is heart-driven, one who identifies with the common man on the street and understands what the country needs on every level. Do not pick a leader who is only money-driven and does not understand or identify with the common man, but only what corporations need on every level.

Pick a peacemaker. One who unites, not divides. A cultured leader who supports the arts and true freedom of speech, not censorship. Pick a leader who will not only bail out banks and airlines, but also families from losing their homes -- or jobs due to their companies moving to other countries. Pick a leader who will fund schools, not limit spending on education and allow libraries to close. Pick a leader who chooses diplomacy over war. An honest broker in foreign relations. A leader with integrity, one who says what they mean, keeps their word and does not lie to their people. Pick a leader who is strong and confident, yet humble. Intelligent, but not sly. A leader who encourages diversity, not racism. One who understands the needs of the farmer, the teacher, the doctor, and the environmentalist -- not only the banker, the oil tycoon, the weapons developer, or the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyist.

Pick a leader who will keep jobs in your country by offering companies incentives to hire only within their borders, not one who allows corporations to outsource jobs for cheaper labor when there is a national employment crisis. Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies.

Most importantly, a great leader must serve the best interests of the people first, not those of multinational corporations. Human life should never be sacrificed for monetary profit. There are no exceptions. In addition, a leader should always be open to criticism, not silencing dissent. Any leader who does not tolerate criticism from the public is afraid of their dirty hands to be revealed under heavy light. And such a leader is dangerous, because they only feel secure in the darkness. Only a leader who is free from corruption welcomes scrutiny; for scrutiny allows a good leader to be an even greater leader.

And lastly, pick a leader who will make their citizens proud. One who will stir the hearts of the people, so that the sons and daughters of a given nation strive to emulate their leader's greatness. Only then will a nation be truly great, when a leader inspires and produces citizens worthy of becoming future leaders, honorable decision makers and peacemakers. And in these times, a great leader must be extremely brave. Their leadership must be steered only by their conscience, not a bribe.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

248 likes

#3

“Never say you know the last word about any human heart.”
― Henry James

191 likes

#4

“The ORDINARY RESPONSE TO ATROCITIES is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable.

Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. Folk wisdom is filled with ghosts who refuse to rest in their graves until their stories are told. Murder will out. Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.

The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma. People who have survived atrocities often tell their stories in a highly emotional, contradictory, and fragmented manner that undermines their credibility and thereby serves the twin imperatives of truth-telling and secrecy. When the truth is finally recognized, survivors can begin their recovery. But far too often secrecy prevails, and the story of the traumatic event surfaces not as a verbal narrative but as a symptom.

The psychological distress symptoms of traumatized people simultaneously call attention to the existence of an unspeakable secret and deflect attention from it. This is most apparent in the way traumatized people alternate between feeling numb and reliving the event. The dialectic of trauma gives rise to complicated, sometimes uncanny alterations of consciousness, which George Orwell, one of the committed truth-tellers of our century, called "doublethink," and which mental health professionals, searching for calm, precise language, call "dissociation." It results in protean, dramatic, and often bizarre symptoms of hysteria which Freud recognized a century ago as disguised communications about sexual abuse in childhood. . . .”
― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

tags: abuse, atrocities, consciousness, crime, denial, dissociation, dissociative, freud, ghosts, graves, healing, horrible, humanity, memory, mind, murder, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, power, psychological-trauma, psychology, ptsd, rape, recovered-memory, recovery, repressed-memory, restoration, sigmund-freud, society, society-denial, survivors, trauma, trauma-therapy, truth, unspeakable, victims, violations, wisdom

263 likes

#5

“...repeated trauma in childhood forms and deforms the personality. The child trapped in an abusive environment is faced with formidable tasks of adaptation. She must find a way to preserve a sense of trust in people who are untrustworthy, safety in a situation that is unsafe, control in a situation that is terrifyingly unpredictable, power in a situation of helplessness. Unable to care for or protect herself, she must compensate for the failures of adult care and protection with the only means at her disposal, an immature system of psychological defenses.”
― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

tags: abuse-survivors, abused-child, abusive-parents, betrayal, betrayal-trauma, child-abuse, complex-ptsd, coping, defense-mechanism, helpelessness, out-of-control, overwhelmed, overwhelming, parental-abuse, personality, personality-disorders, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, powerlessness, psychological-defence, ptsd, terrifying, trauma, traumatic-experiences, traumatized, trust, unsafe, untrustworthy

147 likes

#6

“Dissociation is the common response of children to repetitive, overwhelming trauma and holds the untenable knowledge out of awareness. The losses and the emotions engendered by the assaults on soul and body cannot, however be held indefinitely. In the absence of effective restorative experiences, the reactions to trauma will find expression. As the child gets older, he will turn the rage in upon himself or act it out on others, else it all will turn into madness.”
― Judith Spencer, Satan's High Priest

tags: abuse, amnesia, child-abuse, childhood-trauma, dissociation, dissociative-amnesia, dissociative-disorders, dissociative-identity-disorder, madness, memory, memory-loss, mental-health, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, repressing-emotions, repression, ritual-abuse, trauma

78 likes

#7

“Childhood trauma does not come in one single package.”
― Asa Don Brown

tags: child-abuse, child-trauma, childhood, childhood-abuse, childhood-trauma, childhood-traumas, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, psychologist, psychology, ptsd, recovery, research, resiliency, trauma

57 likes

#8

“Trauma is hell on earth. Trauma resolved is a gift from the gods.”
― Peter A. Levine

tags: gift, healing, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, posttraumatic-stress, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, relief, trauma, trauma-experiences, trauma-healing, traumatic-epiphonies, traumatic-stress, traumatized

73 likes

#9

“First, the physiological symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder have been brought within manageable limits. Second, the person is able to bear the feelings associated with traumatic memories. Third, the person has authority over her memories; she can elect both to remember the trauma and to put memory aside. Fourth, the memory of the traumatic event is a coherent narrative, linked with feeling. Fifth, the person's damaged self-esteem has been restored. Sixth, the person's important relationships have been reestablished. Seventh and finally, the person has reconstructed a coherent system of meaning and belief that encompasses the story of trauma.”
― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

tags: complex-ptsd, healing, healing-abuse, healing-process, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, psychotherapy, ptsd, recovery, recovery-from-abuse, therapy, trauma, trauma-therapy, traumatic-stress

58 likes

#10

“Always remember, if you have been diagnosed with PTSD, it is not a sign of weakness; rather, it is proof of your strength, because you have survived!”
― Michel Templet

tags: healing-insights, inspirational, mental-illness, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, survivors

37 likes

#11

“I have met many, many severely distressed people whose daily lives are filled with the agony of both remembered and unremembered trauma, who try so hard to heal and yet who are constantly being pushed down both by their symptoms and the oppressive circumstances of post traumatic life around them.”
― Carolyn Spring

tags: complex-ptsd, cptsd, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, ptsd-recovery, retraumatization, survivors, survivors-of-abuse, trauma-memory, trauma-survivors

25 likes

#12

“After a traumatic experience, the human system of self-preservation seems to go onto permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment.”
― Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

tags: anxiety, danger, hypervigilance, jumpy, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, self-preservation, startled, trauma, traumatized

142 likes

#13

“Unlike simple stress, trauma changes your view of your life and yourself. It shatters your most basic assumptions about yourself and your world — “Life is good,” “I’m safe,” “People are kind,” “I can trust others,” “The future is likely to be good” — and replaces them with feelings like “The world is dangerous,” “I can’t win,” “I can’t trust other people,” or “There’s no hope.”
― Mark Goulston MD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder For Dummies

tags: dangerous-world, lack-of-trust, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, sense-of-self, shattered-souls, stress, trauma, traumatic-stress, work-view

53 likes

#14

“In World War One, they called it shell shock. Second time around, they called it battle fatigue. After 'Nam, it was post-traumatic stress disorder.”
― Jan Karon, Home to Holly Springs

tags: battle-fatigue, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, shell-shock, veterans, vietnam-war, war, world-war-1, world-war-one, world-war-two

22 likes

#15

“The power we discover inside ourselves as we survive a life-threatening experience can be utilized equally well outside of crisis, too. I am, in every moment, capable of mustering the strength to survive again—or of tapping that strength in other good, productive, healthy ways.”
― Michele Rosenthal, Before the World Intruded

tags: crisis, inspirational, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, self-awareness, self-confidence, self-empowerment, survivor, trauma, traumatic-epiphonies, traumatic-experiences

21 likes

#16

“The brave men and women, who serve their country and as a result, live constantly with the war inside them, exist in a world of chaos. But the turmoil they experience isn’t who they are; the PTSD invades their minds and bodies.”
― Robert Koger, Death's Revenge

tags: cia, combat-ptsd, dea, fbi, mental-illness, military, mystery, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, veterans, vietnam, vietnam-war

21 likes

#17

“TRAUMA STEALS YOUR VOICE

People get so tired of asking you what's wrong and you've run out of nothings to tell them.

You've tried and they've tried, but the words just turn to ashes every time they try to leave your mouth.

They start as fire in the pit of your stomach, but come out in a puff of smoke.

You are not you anymore.

And you don't know how to fix this.

The worst part is...you don't even know how to try.”
― nikitta gill

tags: posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, survivors, trauma, trauma-survivors, traumatized, voiceless

14 likes

#18

“Because during trauma it is usually not safe or possible for individuals to consciously access their emotional reactions or experiences, awareness often emerges after trauma ceases."
KNOWING AND NOT KNOWING ABOUT TRAUMA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THERAPY”
― Jennifer J. Freyd

tags: posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, survivors-of-abuse, trauma-memory, traumatic-experiences, traumatized

5 likes

#19

“Unhinging reason temporarily can sometimes be the only rational response to an insane world.”
― Stewart Stafford

tags: crazy-world, mad-world, madness-in-our-world, mental-health, mental-wellness, posttraumatic-stress-disorder, ptsd, ptsd-quotes, temporary-insanity, unhinged

2 likes

#20

“Every single person is a fool, insane, a failure, or a bad person to at least ten people.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: airhead, aphorism, aphorisms, aphorist, aphorists, around-the-bend, ass, bad, bad-people, bad-person, bananas, batty, birdbrain, blockhead, bonkers, boob, bozo, brainless, buggy, bushed, certifiable, chowderhead, chowderheaded, chump, clod, coot, crack-brained, cracked, crackers, crackpot, crazed, crazy, cretin, cuckoo, daft, dead-loss, demented, deranged, dim, dimwit, dimwitted, dingbat, dipstick, disappointment, disturbed, ditz, dolt, donkey, dope, dork, dud, dullard, dumb, dumb-ass, dumb-cluck, dumbhead, dumbo, dumdum, dummy, dunce, dunderhead, fail, failure, fathead, flake, fool, foolhardy, foolish, funny, galoot, goat, goober, goof, goofball, goofus, goon, half-baked, halfwit, halfwitted, harebrained, hilarious, humor, humorous, humour, idiot, idiotic, ignoramus, ill-advised, ill-considered, imbecile, impolitic, imprudent, incautious, informal-no-hoper, injudicious, insane, insanity, jerk, joke, jokes, jughead, klutz, lamebrain, loco, loony, loopy, loser, lummox, mad, mad-as-a-hatter, meatball, mentally-disordered, mentally-ill, mindless, moron, nerd, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, non-compos-mentis, not-all-there, numbnuts, numbskull, nuts, of-unsound-mind, pea-brained, peabrain, psycho, psychotic, putz, quotations, quotes, rash, reckless, sap, satire, schizophrenic, schlemiel, schlep, schmuck, screwy, silly, simpleton, stark-raving-mad, stupid, thick, thickhead, thoughtless, turkey, twerp, twit, unbalanced, underachiever, unhinged, unintelligent, unstable, unwise, wacko, witless, wooden-headed, write-off, zombie

46 likes

#21

“We would not be ashamed of doing some of the things we do in private, if the number of sane human beings who do them in public were large enough.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: aphorism, aphorisms, aphorist, aphorists, around-the-bend, ashamed, bananas, batty, bonkers, crackers, crazed, crazy, cuckoo, demented, democracy, democratic, deranged, ditzy, enough, ethic, ethical, ethics, funny, gaga, gonzo, hilarious, humor, humorous, humour, in-private, in-public, insane, insanity, joke, jokes, loco, loony, loopy, lunatic, mad-as-a-hatter, mad-as-a-march-hare, majority, masturbate, masturbation, mental, minority, moral, morality, morals, non-compos-mentis, not-all-there, not-right-in-the-head, nutso, nutty, nutty-as-a-fruitcake, out-to-lunch, precept, precepts, private, public, quotations, quotes, raving-mad, round-the-bend, sane, sanity, satire, self-abuse, shame, shameful, societies, society, taboo, taboos, the-majority, the-minority, touched, unhinged, wacko, with-a-screw-loose

19 likes

#22

“But now he’s taken up residence in my REM once more. He’s here every time Jeb is gone, keeping me company—even though I don’t ask him to.
Sharing that much of your subconscious with someone, you tend to learn things about him. Sometimes you even develop feelings for him, no matter how you try to fight it.”
― A.G Howard

tags: unhinged

13 likes

#23

“Compassion has no place on the battlefield...”
― A.G. Howard, Unhinged

tags: morpheus, unhinged

12 likes

#24

“To evade insanity and depression, we unconsciously limit the number of people toward whom we are sincerely sympathetic.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: all-there, aphorism, aphorisms, aphorist, aphorists, around-the-bend, avoid, balanced, bananas, batty, bonkers, bushed, certifiable, compos-mentis, conscious, consciously, cracked, crackers, crazed, crazy, cuckoo, demented, depress, depressed, depressing, depression, deranged, disturbed, escape, evade, evasion, faculties, funny, humor, humour, in-one-s-right-mind, insane, insanity, joke, jokes, limit, limitation, loco, loony, loopy, lucid, lucidity, mad, mad-as-a-hatter, mental-health, mentally-disordered, mentally-ill, mind, non-compos-mentis, normal, not-all-there, number, number-of-people, nuts, of-sound-mind, of-unsound-mind, off-one-s-rocker, out-of-one-s-mind, out-of-one-s-tree, pretend, pretense, psycho, psychotic, rational, rationality, reason, sane, saneness, sanity, satire, schizophrenic, screwy, sense, sincere, sincerely, stability, stable, stark-raving-mad, suicidal, suicide, sympathetic, sympathy, together, unbalanced, unconscious, unconsciously, unhinged, unstable, unsympathetic, wacko, wits

14 likes

#25

“Someone said once that they'd never heard of a crime they couldn't imagine committing, and I realized then that if I had a daughter and she had a rabbit and that rabbit was alone with me and I was feeling the way I felt right now and I had a way to kill that rabbit and the time to spend killing that rabbit then killing the rabbit was something I could imagine myself possibly doing or at least considering doing or being on the edge of doing. And smearing a husband with the blood wasn't such a far step after that if you had a desire to smear your husband with blood and smearing someone with blood was something I could imagine a situation calling for because there were at least a few people in this world that I wouldn't not like to see smeared with blood—one person being Werner for fucking my plans, for sending me back out into a life with my wildebeest, to figure out a way to live here and I didn't want to do that and I didn't know how to do that and I wasn't sure how I was going to do that—”
― Catherine Lacey, Nobody Is Ever Missing

tags: catherine-lacey, crimes, mental-illness, nobody-is-ever-missing, repetition, stream-of-consciousness, unhinged, unstable, violent

2 likes

#26

“I had to admit, sometimes I sensed the strangeness of the world tugging at my sleeve, like a mischievous toddler, and I wanted to follow it.”
― Troy H. Gardner, Wakefield

tags: crazy-world, erin-callahan, mad-world, magic, strange, strangeness, troy-h-gardner, wakefield

8 likes

#27

“When you want to fully isolate yourself from the madnesses of the people, find a wooden cottage in the middle of nowhere by the side of high mountains! Over there, alongside the fresh winds, the mysterious sounds and the pleasant scents, you will find the most precious thing: Freedom!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

tags: freedom, freedom-quotations, freedom-quotes, isolation, madness, madness-in-our-world, mehmet-murat-ildan-quotes

1 likes

#28

“Ik heb het over echte waanzin. Waanzin die een stropdas draagt en gepoetste schoenen. De waanzin die 's avonds naar de badkamerspiegel knikt en niet meer bijkomt van het lachen, omdat hij weet dat hij weer gewonnen heeft, omdat hij helemaal niet kan verliezen, want hij heeft niets te verliezen. Het is de waanzin met korte smalle vingers, te klein om een andere man pijn te doen, maar toch net groot genoeg om op een knop te drukken. Misschien dat iemand deze waanzin herkent, maar dan zal het te laat zijn.”
― Robert Seethaler, Das Feld

tags: madness-in-our-world

1 likes

#29

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
― Steve Jobs

68185 likes