em

“You know, one of the hardest things to admit is that we weren’t loved when we needed it most. It’s a terrible feeling, the pain of not being loved.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient

“Open your eyes: See things for what they really are, thereby sparing yourself the pain of false attachments and avoidable devastation.”
― Epictetus, The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness

“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“And what he wanted, more even than to be loved, was to break down that wall of virtue, even if it were only once in his whole life. The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime.”
― George Orwell, 1984