Apphia

“My neighbour's blinds were down. What were their dreams and nightmares? How different it would be to see them now, slack in the jaw, bodies open. We might be able to say something truthful to one another instead of the usual rolled-up Goodmornings.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body

“This principle of reciprocity--a give-and-take in a relationship of balance--is not just some transaction done to advance one's own aims. Traditionally, Native Americans see reciprocity as a natural law of the universe and as crucial for humans to maintain harmony.”
― Randy Woodley, Journey to Eloheh: How Indigenous Values Lead Us to Harmony and Well-Being

“Man knows how to cry from birth, but laughter takes some learning.”
― Max Pallenberg, Austrian singer

“A completely isolated individual, if
such a thing ever existed, could not blush. As Darwin explains, “we cannot
cause a blush … by any physical means—that is by an other action of the
body. It is the mind which must be affected … [by] thinking of what others
think of us.”55 Here we can see the sympathy not just of a person’s body parts
with each other—brain with facial muscles and blood vessels—but also with
the emotionally charged presence (sometimes imagined) of another person.
Blushing is a physiological habit, a way of transacting with the world that
illustrates how other beings are entangled in the psychosomatic functioning
of a person’s body.”
― Shannon Sullivan, The Physiology of Sexist and Racist Oppression