MDS

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”
― Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor

“The Pasha sighed. He often did that when he took up quarters before a fortress that had to be taken. It was a reflex prompted by the first impression, always the deepest, before he became accustomed to the situation — it was rather like getting used to a woman.”
― Ismail Kadare, The Siege

“history is a scene of such relentless suffering inflicted by human beings on themselves and on each other because – or, at any rate, largely because – there have been endless individuals who were sure they knew the truth and sought to get others to agree with them. For those who feel sure they have the answers are usually pretty keen to impose them on others.”
― Christopher Hamilton, How to Deal with Adversity