"Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love."

The Brothers Karamazov (via iluminacje)

"Something within her refused to grow. Something endless, eternal. Something bold. Something warrior-like. She looked up at the stars, she could feel, she felt as if she could pluck them one by one and send them spinning into the world, like small beautiful elastic mercurial weapons. Now too, the time is coming."

Patti Smith’s beautiful tribute to Virginia Woolf, who took her own life on March 28, 1941. (via explore-blog)

"This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes
thou lovest best.
Night, sleep, death and the stars."

Walt Whitman, A Clear Midnight (via insipidexpectations)

"

We can’t begin being empathetic when another person arrives. We have to already have made a space in our lives where empathy can thrive. And that means being open—truly open—to feeling emotions we may not want to feel. It means allowing another’s experiences to gut us. It means ceding control.

Empathy begins with vulnerability. And being vulnerable, especially in our work, is fucking terrifying.

"

Sara Wachter-Boettcher on empathy. Complement with Brenè Brown on why vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and just about everything that matters. (via explore-blog)

"I feel numb and dumb, and unable to lay hands on any words."

Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals (via c-ovet)

(Source: violentwavesofemotion)