Ade Osagiede

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” but baptism of the body, unless followed by baptism of the mind, becomes practically meaningless. If we bathe and thus purify our bodies, we will find that our mind will temporarily become purified, but unless we change our soul’s wickedness by calmness, and meditation, and constant spiritual vigilance, we will remain the same old devils with bad habits in spite of the temporary purifying effect of the water on
our bodies.”
― Paramahansa Yogananda, The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You (Self-Realization Fellowship) 2 Volume Set

“It is so very helpful to know exactly how, and in what ways, you are devilish. It is non-beneficial, and even detrimental, to go about life with a mental image of yourself that is just not accurate. A projection of things that you want to see, blinding yourself to the things you don't want to see. The devil in you and the angel in you both curate the best life for you, but you make it harder on both of them when you acknowledge only one of them. I like to see them both and give each their due honours.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“I wanted her to know that she was. She was whoever she saw herself as. I wanted her to know that we defined who we were, and we couldn’t let the mirror or Facebook or even the people closest to us make that decision. We couldn’t let others who had things we didn’t — like tails — make us feel any less than we were.”
― Jacqueline Simon Gunn, The Cat Who Ate His Tail

“He called you beautiful, for a black girl and you kissed him. It would not be the last time someone would pay you a provisional compliment, nor the last time you accept it. Back then, you had not yet realized, that those who view your beauty conditionally, undoubtedly felt the same towards your humanity.”
― Rafeif Ismail, Meet Me at the Intersection