Inner Conflict Quotes

“Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation– the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the "impossible," come true.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up

“Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast,
And each will wrestle for the mastery there.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

“If your actions were to boomerang back on you instantly, would you still act the same? Doing to others an act you’d rather not have done to you reveals a powerful internal conflict.”
― Alexandra Katehakis

“Faust complained about having two souls in his breast, but I harbor a whole crowd of them and they quarrel. It is like being in a republic.”
― Otto von Bismarck

“So there you have it: two things & I can't bring them together & they are wrenching me apart. These two feelings, this knowledge of a world so awful, this sense of a life so extraordinary—how am I to resolve them?”
― Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

“Takamasa Saegusa: 'Seigen, a mere member of the Toudouza, had the effrontery to sully the sacred dueling ground. For that reason, our lord had already decided to subject him to tu-uchi before long. Cut off his head immediately, and stick it on a pike!'

Gennosuke could hardly believe his ears. Such an insult to Irako Seigen was unwarranted. It was pride. For Gennosuke, Irako Seigen was pride itself.

Takamasa Saegusa: 'Fujiki Gennosuke! It is the way of the samurai to take the head of the defeated enemy on the battleground. Do not hesitate! If you are a samurai, you must carry out the duty of a samurai!'

Samurai...

Saegusa, Lord of Izu, continued shouting, but Gennosuke did not attend. That word 'samurai' alone reverberated through his body.

If one aims at the juncture between the base of the skull and the spine, decapitation is not that difficult, but Gennosuke could muster no more strength than a baby. He grew pale and trembled with the strain. He could only hack with his sword as if he were sawing wood. He felt nauseated, as if his own cells one after another were being annihilated. But this...

Lord Tokugawa Tadanaga: 'I approve.'

Takamasa Saegusa: 'Fujiki Gennosuke, for this splendid action you have received words of thanks from our lord. As a sign of his exceptional approval, you shall be given employment at Sunpu Castle. This great debt will by no means be forgotten. From this day forward you must offer your life to our lord!'

Prostrating himself, Gennosuke vomited.”
― Takayuki Yamaguchi, シグルイ 15

“A soul is a monstrous thing,
weaker than the heart
yet stronger than the mind.
What you can’t give your heart,
feed your soul with—
and reveal everything hidden.”
― Laura Chouette

“Flesh cannot satisfy spirit. And so now you must seek the Grail.”
― Toby R. Beeny, Lilacs from the Dead Land: A Narrative of Nostalgia, Identity, and Dreams

“something not entirely right. But without options beyond what’s expected and with a deep desire for approval, one does what one sees.

At least, that is what one does until one no longer can.”
― Jeanette LeBlanc

“¿Valdrá la pena mantener ese silencio? Después de todo, el amor es el tesoro más valioso que se puede poseer.”
― Angel Monge

“All that clearly emerged from his attitude and expression was that he was in a state of strange indecision, seemingly adrift between the two extremes of death on the one hand and salvation on the other—ready to shatter that skull or to kiss that hand.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (Penguin Hardback Classics) by Victor Hugo Reprint Edition

“Shattered mirrors
on the living room floor,
a place where mirrors —
in any form —
should not be.

Lying and laying —
up and down the room
they reflect each whole thing,
its completeness,
as if the very sight
could harm us —
so perfect, so unreal
from their perspective.

I drown on the floorboards,
you waste my tears
by drying them.

All the lies,
the lies you told,
up and down the room
like mirrors, broken ones.

Truth reflects nothing
unless it’s broken.

Outside this room,
you roam the hallways,
searching for feelings within.

Dating a lie,
dangerous and monstrous
like your mind and soul.
Survival is a matter of time
and a dance on balanced sheets.

The shattered pieces still lie there —
waiting for completeness to end,
chaos ensuring perfection.

The lies fall still
in the afternoon light
that rests on the floorboards.

Breathing easily now,
vanishing glimpses —
truth fades slowly,
holding no place
between you and me
and all the lies you told.”
― Laura Chouette

“There may be a fleeting and tantalising (from the point of view of both patient and therapist) ability to find the therapist helpful when in contact with the therapist, but there is always the fear for the DID patient of the therapist changing into a malign object, of realising they have been tricked again. Secondly there is the problem not only of object consistency but of object permanence, whereby the therapist ceases to exist as an object between sessions. Thirdly there is the problem at the Therapist being introjected by one personality, and that link being then enviously attacked by another personality in a way that is hidden from the view of the therapist.”
― Peter Whewell, Attachment, Trauma and Multiplicity: Working with Dissociative Identity Disorder

“Her smile never faltered when she answered, 'Yes.”
― Scarlet Ibis James, Scarlet Yearnings: Stories of Love and Desire

“I don’t know how to end a war I was born into;
how to end a conflict and a fight that I don’t understand even the people say I am on their side;
What is the wrong one and how can I end this?”
― Laura Chouette

“We become numb ourselves while the world calls it a tragedy.”
― Laura Chouette

“If you have a secret story that you cannot share with anyone, life then becomes even more difficult.”
― Aytekin Yılmaz, Ernesto'nun Dağları

“I told myself whatever lie would work. Because I needed a lie.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, Borne

“If I were to be totally sincere
In every desperate attempt to save the world,
I forget that there are nights I can't even save myself.
I stand at the end of every line of souls I try to lift,
as if I'm the least deserving of my own compassion.
And maybe I am.”
― Mohamed Yossri

“Balance is not peace — it is the eternal storm that holds peace in place.”
― Dmytro Zyma, The Balance of Tora: A Battle Between Light and Darkness

“I suppose I became a ghost long before I died. Or maybe I was never born at all. Georgie Gust—my puppet, my echo, my alibi—he lives the life I never could. And Ben? Ben is the disease, the master puppeteer. Together we dance. Alone, we rot. It’s not schizophrenia, really—it’s an orchestra without a conductor. Some days I am all the instruments at once. Other days, I am silence. But always, always, the music aches.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“Georgie Gust is the part of me I miss. Ben is the part I hate.”
― Jonathan Harnisch, Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography

“In the council of gods that is your mind, you don’t find lasting peace by banishing or killing off any member of the council, but by integrating them so that each has a valued voice in the discussion.”
― Kevin L. Michel, The Council of Gods

“Imagine this scene as the council of gods inside you. When you face a tough decision or a strong temptation, it is as if these inner gods gather in debate or even combat. In the reverberations of their shouts and whispers, we recognize our own internal struggle.”
― Kevin L. Michel, The Council of Gods

“The worst part of saying you no longer believe in God is knowing that God is still there, listening to you. That's why the praying sneaks back in when shit goes south. That's why not believing is just standing on the opposite side of the same room you've always been in.”
― Gabino Iglesias, The Devil Takes You Home

“Each of us carries his Mexico and his United States within him, a dark and bloody frontier we dare to cross only at night.”
― Carlos Fuentes, The Old Gringo

“You’re not broken. You’re not defective. You’re just... human. And human means messy. Human means noisy. Human means sometimes having internal conflict that plays out like a bad sitcom with no commercial breaks.”
― Ronen Dancziger, The Therapist's Handbook for Healing Your Simpsons Syndrome: Unhook from Your Inner Chaos Characters with CBT, ACT, and a Little Humor

“No matter how fiercely her brain resisted, her heart already knew the truth.

Chapter 11 - The Dark Hunt”
― Samantha Gower, The Alopex Legacy: Mythological Mysteries - The Haunting of the Black Shuck

“No matter what they did, Leo and Flora’s secrets consumed them.

Chapter 4 - When Plans Fall Apart”
― Samantha Gower, The Alopex Legacy: Mythological Mysteries - The Haunting of the Black Shuck

“Magic can bind the body, but only desire can break the soul.”
― Arden Frost, The Sorceress of the crystal forest: A Dark Romantasy of Desire and Power