Jota

“The surest aid in combating the male's disease of self-contempt is to be loved by a clever woman.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“People want to be loved; failing that admired; failing that feared; failing that hated and despised. They want to evoke some sort of sentiment. The soul shudders before oblivion and seeks connection at any price.”
― Hjalmar Soderberg, Doctor Glas

“We need this help from the outside because we don't know how to to do this for ourselves. We start with a deep deficit—a chasm really—when it comes to understanding and being tolerant of ourselves, and that's even before we go forth to do battle with the rest of the world. As soon as someone judges, criticizes, dismisses, or ignores, the cycle of pain and reactivity ramps up, compounded by shame, remorse, and rejection. The act of validation, simply saying, 'I can see things from your perspective,' can short-circuit that emotional detour.”
― Kiera Van Gelder, The Buddha and the Borderline

“Th Chinese believe that before you can conquer a beast you first must make it beautiful.”
― Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness