Hatice

“You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female’.”
― Erin McKean

“Furthermore, much of the gift-giving that occurs nowadays is inspired less by noble intentions, and more by aggressive marketing. Around every major holiday, we’re barraged with ads urging us to buy this, that, and the other thing for our loved ones. They promise that happiness will reign if we give our wife the right diamond necklace, our husband the right electronic gadget, our friend the right cashmere scarf, and our children the right trendy toys—and on the flip side, hint at the disappointment they’ll suffer if we don’t. Consequently, our gift-giving often has more to do with fulfilling obligations, satisfying expectations, and avoiding guilt than anything else.”
― Francine Jay, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life

“I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness - a real thorough-going illness.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead

“The highest and most beautiful things in life are not to be heard about, nor read about, nor seen but, if one will, are to be lived.”
― Søren Kierkegaard