mckenzie

“But isn’t it also pain that often makes us feel more miserable than any other thing? But isn’t it also pain that often makes us more aware of self? It is a terrible thing to learn as a child that one is a being separate from all the world, that no one and no thing hurts along with one’s burned tongues and skinned knees, that one’s aches and pains are all one’s own. Even more terrible, as we grow older, to learn that no person, no matter how beloved, can ever truly understand us. Our own selves make us most unhappy, that’s why we’re so anxious to lose them, don’t you think?”
― Donna Tartt, The Secret History