The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain.
0Avoiding risk is not much of a goal... whether you crawl into a hole or walk a high wire, nobody gets out of here alive. We cannot grow without challenge.
Risk, Motivation0The heartfelt realization of one's insignificance yields a calming sense of being completely connected to the greater whole. As a tiny part of the world and humanity, I now feel more at peace and much larger than I ever felt as a man alone.
0In addition to the little ecosystem developing around my raft, I am constantly surrounded by a display of natural wonders. The acrobatic dorados perform beneath ballets of fluffy white clouds. The clouds glide across the sky until they join at the horizon to form whirling, flaming sunsets that are slowly doused by nightfall. Then, as if the sun had suddenly crashed, thousands of glistening galaxies are flung out into deep black night. There is no bigger sky country than the sea. But I cannot enjoy the incredible beauty around me. It lies beyond my grasp, taunting me. Knowing it can be stolen from me at any time, by a Dorado or shark attack or by a deflating raft, I cannot relax and appreciate it. It is beauty surrounded by ugly fear. I write in my log that it is a view of heaven from a seat in hell.
0There is a magnificent intensity in life that comes when we are not in control but are only reacting, living, surviving.
Life0He loved libraries. Nowhere else in the world felt so safe and homey. Nowhere else smelled like books and dust and happy solitude quite like a library did.
Books0Because pieces of your heart clearly weigh more when they're sitting shattered at the bottom of your stomach.
0Bystanders who do nothing give bullies permission inadvertently to go on being bullies. Most are afraid they’ll lose friends or be bullied themselves if they help victims or report bullies, and some feel guilty for years afterward.
Bullying0My self-wroth is not linked to your cruel words and actions.
My self-esteem is not affected by your deliberate attempts to destroy my character.
You have no power over me.
You will not silence me.
It was because of the way you treated me that I learned to be my own person, have my own opinion, stand my ground. It’s at least partially because I survived you that I’m the person I am today.
Bullying0In order to find some solution to the bullying problem, we’ll have to be more tolerant of ambiguity, subtlety, and strangeness not just in other people but in ourselves. It may be important to your identity that you are a soccer player, but it may be equally important that you can whistle the national anthem backward and make the world’s best spicy popcorn and do a wicked impression of Victoria Beckham. Schools, parents, and educational endeavors should encourage people not just to empathize but to discover and celebrate the weirdness in others and in ourselves. We need not just to think but to live outside the box. Weirdness is good. It keeps things interesting.
Craziness & Weirdness, Bullying0Bullying is a horrible thing. It sticks with you forever. It poisons you. But only if you let it.
Bullying0The worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical. Even further beyond any other emotional pain one can feel. It is the betrayal of a friend.
Verrat0Because teachers, no matter how kind, no matter how friendly, are sadistic and evil to the core.
Teachers0It never gets easier, missing you. And sometimes I wonder if it ever will.
Missing Someone0The world is full of monsters with friendly faces.
Appearance0If citizens followed their leaders' example throughout history, the human race would have died out centuries ago.
Revolution, History0If stakes and garlic were the top two things that could kill a vampire, ninth grade gym was a close third.
High School, Vampires0'Morning, sunshine.'
Vlad blinked at her. 'Morning, sulfuric acid.'
'Pardon me?'
'Well, isn't it just kinda wrong to call a vampire 'sunshine'?'
'I drive well!'
'Says who your mom?'
'No actually, she won't even get in the car with me.'
A label doesn't make something so. A label is just a word. It's what a person does that makes them who they are.
Character0It was tough attempting to be social with people who'd rather pretend you didn't exist.
0Mmmmm. Warm chocolate chip cookies. Not even AB negative can compare.
0M for Maven, M for monster, M for murder.
0The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain.
Truth0Break my heart. Break it a thousand times if you like. It was only ever yours to break anyway.
0I'm sad because my sadness is not sadness.
0The only obsession everyone wants: 'love.' People think that in falling in love they make themselves whole? The Platonic union of souls? I think otherwise. I think you're whole before you begin. And the love fractures you. You're whole, and then you're cracked open.
0All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring.
Renewed shall be blade that was broken
The crownless again shall be king.
What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.
Profound0We learn more by remembering than forgetting.
Memories0You only get healing by remembering.
Forgetting is just suppression.
Many species lack the ability to defy their own animal instincts and allow their intellect to prevail.
Intelligence0I know that the future is scary at times. But there's just no escaping it.
Future0I’d spent my entire life overdosing on uncut escapism, willingly allowing fantasy to become my reality.
Imagination0If there were other civilizations out there, why would they ever want to make contact with humanity? If this was how we treated each other, how much kindness could we possibly show to some race of bug-eyed beings from beyond?
Humanity0Now whenever I watched a Star Wars film, I found myself wondering how the Empire had the technology to make long-distance holographic phone calls between planets light-years apart, and yet no one had figured out how to make a remote-controlled TIE Fighter or X-Wing yet.
0That’s how you know you’ve mastered a videogame - when a bunch of butt-hurt crybabies start to accuse you of cheating in an effort to cope with the beatdown they’ve just suffered at your hands.
Video games0That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.
Reality0I’m not crazy about reality, but it’s still the only place to get a decent meal.
Food, Reality0For a bunch of hairless apes, we've actually managed to invent some pretty incredible things.
Progress0People who live in glass houses should shut the fuck up.
0No one in the world gets what they want and that is beautiful.
Satisfaction0Whenever I saw the sun, I reminded myself that I was looking at a star. One of over a hundred billion in our galaxy. A galaxy that was just one of billions of other galaxies in the observable universe. This helped me keep things in perspective.
0You'd be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever.
0Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.
Video games0'You’re evil, you know that?' I said.
She grinned and shook her head. 'Chaotic Neutral, sugar.'