Blank Slate

"Anyone too undisciplined, too self-righteous or too self-centered to live in the world as it is has a tendency to idealise a world which ought to be. But no matter what political or religious direction such idealists choose, their visions always share one telling characteristic: in their utopias, their greatest personal weakness suddenly appears to be a strength." 

The Brothers K // David James Duncan

"We are bemused and crazed creatures, strangers to our true selves, to one another and to the spiritual and material world." 

R.D. Laing

"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." 

Friedrich Nietzsche

"There were things I wanted to tell him. But I knew they would hurt him. So I buried them, and let them hurt me." 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close // Jonathan Safran Foer

"

I like things my way
every chance I get.
A limit doesn’t exist

when it comes to that.
But please, don’t confuse
what I say with honesty.

Isn’t honesty the open yawn
the unimaginative love
more than truth?

Anonymous among strangers
I look for those
with hidden wings,

and for scars
that those who once had wings
can’t hide.

Though I know it’s unfair,
I reveal myself
one mask at a time.

Does this appeal to you,
such slow disclosures,
a lifetime perhaps

of almost knowing one another?
I would hope you, too,
would hold something back,

and that you’d always want
whatever unequal share
you had style enough to get.

Altruism is for those
who can’t endure their desires.
There’s a world

as ambiguous as a moan,
a pleasure moan
our earnest neighbors

might think a crime.
It’s where we could live.
I’ll say I love you,

which will lead, of course,
to disappointment
but those words unsaid

poison every moment.
I will try to disappoint you
better than anyone ever has.

" 

Mon Semblable // Stephen Dunn

"If I could turn you on, if I could drive you out of your wretched mind, if I could tell you I would let you know." 

R.D. Laing