Ali: A Life
by
When he might have fled out of pain or panic, he fought back instead, exerting will over impulse.
“It’s strange how you give the people you love so much power over you, I had written in my journal. But Shawn had more power over me than I could possibly have imagined. He had defined me to myself, and there’s no greater power than that.”
― Educated
― Educated
“I spent my life learning to feel less. Every day I felt less. Is that growing old? Or is it something worse?”
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
― Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
― Self-Reliance: An Excerpt from Collected Essays, First Series
― Self-Reliance: An Excerpt from Collected Essays, First Series
“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
― Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
― Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
“Those days are gone, and good fucking riddance to them; unhappiness really meant something back then. Now it's just a drag, like a cold or having no money. If you really wanted to mess me up, you should have got to me earlier.”
― High Fidelity
― High Fidelity
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