Débora Chaves

“Narcissus does not fall in love with his reflection because it is beautiful but because it is his. If it were his beauty that enthralled him, he would be set free in a few years by its fading.

"After all," sighed Narcissus the hunchback, "on me it looks good.

The contemplation of his reflection does not turn Narcissus into Priapus: the spell in which he is trapped is not a desire for himself but the satisfaction of not desiring the nymphs.

"I prefer my pistol to my p…," said Narcissus; "it cannot take aim without my permission" – and took a pot shot at Echo.”
― W.H. Auden, The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”
― Søren Kierkegaard

“I belong deeply to myself.”
― Warsan Shire, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
― William Faulkner