Serena Teng

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. 'The last time you were here, you were so lost. So . . . well, if you don't mind me saying —'
'Pathetic,' I blurted out. 'Whiny, entitled, selfish. I felt terribly sorry for myself.'
Meg nodded along with my words as if listening to her favourite song. 'You still feel sorry for yourself.'
'But now,' Sally said, sitting back again, 'you're more . . . human, I suppose.'
There was that word again: human, which not long ago I would have considered a terrible insult. Now, every time I heard it, I thought of Jason Grace's admonition: Remember what it's like to be human.
He hadn't meant all the terrible things about being human, of which there were plenty. He'd meant the best things: standing up for a just cause, putting others first, having stubborn faith that you could make a difference, even if it meant you had to die to protect your friends and what you believed in. These were not the kind of feelings that gods had . . . well, ever.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tower of Nero

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”
― Bertrand Russell

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.”
― May Sarton