Mark

“Vanilla, as a spice, is expensive, complex and fulfilling, and those who live that life are worthy of respect.”
― Lee Harrington, Playing Well With Others

“given all the other changes he’s gone through, why the hell shouldn’t he become a cigarette smoker while he’s at it? Maybe next week he’ll be shooting heroin. For something disgusting and lethal, cigarettes are amazingly enjoyable.”
― Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

“Narcissists do show a lack of concern for others, but they are equally insensitive to their own true needs. Often their behavior is self-destructive. Moreover, when we speak of narcissists’ “self” love, we need to make a distinction. Narcissism denotes an investment in one’s image as opposed to one’s self. Narcissists love their image, not their real self. They have a poor sense of self; they are not self-directed. Instead, their activities are directed toward the enhancement of their image, often at the expense of the self.”
― Alexander Lowen, Narcissism: Denial of the True Self

“Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning. Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig.”
― Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success