Risa

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“The forest was almost thunderous in its myriad sounds.”
― Isham Cook, The Tao of Poison

“I remember not belonging. I was always Summer’s older sister—the plain one with the red hair and a gap between her front teeth. The first boy I had a crush on said my teeth looked like piano keys. My smile hid behind by hand until one day the captain of the hockey team said I looked like Madonna. It was like instant validation. Mine wasn’t a flaw, it was a feature . . . my unique trademark. I knew then I didn’t want to be perfect nor was my self-esteem tied to any clique.
Starla reassuring teenage Willa of the correct perspective on self esteem and self-worth.”
― JoDee Neathery, A Kind of Hush

“إن الإنسان الذي يصبح خاضعاً لحاجاته المغرّبة هو كائن إنساني مشوه ذهنياً وطبيعياً ... السلعة الفاعلة والواعية ذاتياً. إن الإنسان السلعة هذا لا يعرف سوي طريق واحد لتواصل ذاته مع العالم الخارجي, بواسطة امتلاكه واستهلاكه: فكلما يكون الإنسان أكثر اغتراباً كلما تساهم حاسة الملكية والاستعمال أكثر في تشكيل علاقاته بالعالم. فكلما تكون أنت أقل, وكلما تعبر أقل عن حياتك, كلما تملك أكثر, وكلما تكون حياتك المغرَّبة وعملية توفير وجودك, أعظم”
― Karl Marx, Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844