Jardley

“As you approach Carol, she stands with her back to you, engaged in a conversation. Eager to make a joke about the questionable headwear in the crowd, you tap her on the shoulder. A complete stranger turns to you, confused and slightly irritated. You respond with embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

But that's not true. You didn't think she was someone else. You knew she was someone else. You knew she was Carol. You never questioned it. Indeed, you never even thought about it. In the world you experienced, you tapped Carol on the shoulder. She was there, in your brain, not your eyes.”
― Isaac Lidsky, Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can't See Clearly

“There will be no one like us when we are gone, but then there is no one like anyone else, ever. When people die, they cannot be replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled, for it is the fate—the genetic and neural fate—of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death. I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”
― Oliver Sacks, Gratitude

“I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.”
― Oliver Sacks, Gratitude

“You are your body, nothing more, and your body should damn well become less.”
― Roxane Gay, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body