Daniel Moore

“I decided not to have children for personal reasons. When I was young, my family was full of tension and anger, and then I noticed that many others were too. Such a family life was in no way attractive. When older, often I saw parents rebuke their children for playing with me, or even in my vicinity, assuming it would bother me — without waiting to see whether I did complain. (Often it did not.) Rebuking those children had become an ingrained, automatic habit. To see this made me sad for them, but I knew I would be the same as a parent. I would not be able to cope with a frequently crying baby without learning habits of reacting with irritation, too quickly and too harshly.

Many people tell themselves, "That happens to others, but I am better than they; I will get it right." Obviously, most of them are mistaken. I've learned not to fall into that kind of mistake; I did not suppose that I would succeed in human relationships in an area where most people fail.

Most fathers in the US have to work very hard to get money for their children. I did not want a life of running on a treadmill, doing whatever people with money would tell me to do.

A large fraction of US fathers eventually get divorced, and subsequently rarely see the children for whom they are spending most of their time scrabbling for money. What a futile life! But even those who are not yet divorced see their children little, since they are so busy at work. Meanwhile, single women with children do not have it easy; they usually confront poverty while carrying so much responsibility that one person can hardly cope — but that was not the risk that I personally faced.

I am convinced I made a wise personal decision in avoiding this.”
― Richard Stallman

“When people commit suicide, no one ever understands. You know what I mean? People commit suicide and people go "I don't understand why." and I go, "You don't?"
What, do you live in a cotton-candy house or something? What the fuck? You don't know about life? How it only disappoints and gets worse and worse until it ends in a catastrophe?”
― Norm Macdonald

“It is unwise to summon what you cannot dismiss.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman #50: Ramadan

“You know what sticks people to something? The desire to know how it's all going to end. It's like glue. And do you know your tragedy, Carla? It's that, for all your goodwill, for all your willingness to help, you never knew what any of this was all about. What was going on. You don't know how it ends. And you'll never get to find out.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman #61: The Kindly Ones part 5 of 13