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“At that moment I realized that the one question I would want to ask her, the only question for me worth asking, would be “Is it worth being so talented if you also have to suffer from a profound sensitivity that is intrinsically connected to your gifts?”

But I don’t know if she could even answer. What if she wants to possess her talent and also to be free of torment. What if she doesn’t want to have to choose. I think it’s okay to not be grateful for your curses. I think it’s okay to just want your blessings to be blessings.”
― Melissa Broder, So Sad Today: Personal Essays

“We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can. Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort. And that is why we write.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

“Scientists have discovered something called ‘mirror neurons.’ A mirror neuron is one that will fire in your brain when you perform an action and also when you watch that same action being performed by someone else. Why we have these neurons is a mystery. Maybe they’ve helped us become more empathetic. When you see or read about someone else’s bad news, maybe a part of you is experiencing it too. It occurred to me that when we watch videos of people falling down, we are waiting for the moment of impact- for a bruise, a hurt, a collision, and that expectation makes us full participants in the event. Every fall we see is our own, and all of us are falling all the time.

I wondered if the same would hold true if I reversed the fall. Would our neurons mirror that rising? Are all of us rising right now? Are you?”
― Thomas Pierce, Hall of Small Mammals: Stories

“Easy, you know, does it, son.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things