Ted Chaffman

“I am my mother’s caresses, and the serene kindness with which my father calmly guided me; I am my adolescent travels; I am what my reading has deposited in layers in my mind; I am my loves, my moments of despair, my friendships, what I’ve written, what I’ve heard; the faces engraved on my memory. I am, above all, the one who a minute ago made a cup of tea for himself. The one who a moment ago typed the word “memory” into his computer. The one who just composed the sentence that I am now completing. If all this disappeared, would I still exist? I am this long, ongoing novel. My life consists of it.”
― Carlo Rovelli, L'ordine del tempo

“One pays dearly for any kind of mastery on earth, where perhaps one pays too dearly for everything; one is master of one's trade at the price of also being its victim.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs

“One!
O man! Take heed!
Two!
What says deep midnight's voice indeed?
Three!
"I slept my sleep-
Four!
"From deepest dream I've woke and plead:-
Five!
"The world is deep,
Six!
"And deeper than the day could read.
Seven!
"Deep is its woe-
Eight!
"Joy- deeper still than grief can be:
Nine!
"Woe says: Hence! Go!
Ten!
"But joys all want eternity-
Eleven!
"Want deep profound eternity!"
Twelve!”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

“First find out what you are capable of, then decide who you are.”
― Tara Westover