De Profundis
by
I must say to myself that I ruined myself, and that nobody great or small can be ruined except by his own hand.
“Morality is just a fiction used by the herd of inferior human beings to hold back the few superior men.”
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“If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much to say, as that he is brave towards God and a coward towards men.”
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“Books are not something that you just read words in. They're also a tool to adjust your senses. When I'm not feeling well there are times that I can't take in what I read. When that happens, I try to think about what could be hindering my reading. There are books that I can take in smoothly even when I'm not feeling well. I try to think why. It might be something like mental tuning. What's important when you tune is the feeling of the paper that you're touching with your fingers and the momentary stimulation your brain receives when you turn pages...”
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“True love is first, love which does not conceal, and it does not conceal in two senses. First, it does not conceal because it has nothing to hide. It has nothing shameful which has to be hidden. It does not shun the light. It is willing, and is such that it is always willing to show itself in front of witnesses. It is also a love which does not conceal its aims. True love does not hide the true objective that it seeks to obtain from the one it loves. it is without subterfuge and does not employ roundabout means with its partner. It does not keep itself out of sight of witnesses, or of its partner. True love is love without disguise. Second, true love is an unalloyed love, that is to say, without mixture of pleasure and displeasure. It is also a love in which sensual pleasure and the friendship of souls do not intermingle. To that extend it is therefore a pure love because unalloyed. Third, true love (alethes eros) is love which is in line with what is right, what is correct. It is a direct (euthus) love. It has nothing contrary to the rule or custom. And finally, true love is love which is never subject to change or becoming. It is an incorruptible love which remains always the same.”
― The Courage of Truth: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1983-1984
― The Courage of Truth: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1983-1984
“After all, only women are able really to love.”
― Snow Country
― Snow Country
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