Gina

“I promise that he following sentences are not a joke. I especially want to say this to artists: I'm improbably successful in the comedy world. You don't know the full scope of it, but it's almost unimaginable. I'm not telling you to brag. I'm saying it because I'm really not special. I wasn't chosen, and I didn't have a team of tastemakers behind me making my dreams happen. I made them happen, and you can make yours happen too. I mean it. If you're a comedian, writer, actor, painter, director, dancer, or any other type of artist, you can make your dreams happen. You can have the career and the life that you dream of. The only thing I did was believe I could do it, and I took action. You must do the same. You have to know you are meant to do your craft and you have to act. You have to write, dance, paint, get onstage, express yourself however you feel compelled to, and you have to take a chance on yourself. I recorded my own album, submitted for what was available, and started my own podcase. I'm not special, but I didn't wait for something to happen. I took calculated risks, and you can and should do the same. Make the life you want happen for yourself because you really can.”
― Tom Segura, I'd Like to Play Alone, Please: Essays

“I found it extremely heartening to see all those donations pour into this young man who has too often been neglected and ignored by society. It reminded me that when we know about suffering, when we are proximal to it, we are capable of extraordinary generosity. We can do so much for each other - but only when we see one another in our full humanity, not as statistics or problems, but as people who deserve to be alive in the world.”
― John Green, Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

“In contrast to empathy, compassion does not mean sharing the suffering of the other: rather, it is characterized by feelings of warmth, concern and care for the other, as well as a strong motivation to improve the other's well-being. Compassion is feeling for and not feeling with the other”
― Paul Bloom, Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion

“Framing illness as even involving morality seems to me a mistake, because of course cancer does not give a shit whether you are a good person. Biology has no moral compass. It does not punish the evil and reward the good. It doesn't even know about evil and good.”
― John Green, Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection