you have to learn how to construct a self who remains free in spite of the system.

It was a monotonous game that you took seriously in preparation for the real thing, a means of instilling a strong work ethic. It was a way of finding out what it'd be like one day, when you entered society and the workforce. No more dithering: If you wanted to move up, you had to play the game on a sophisticated level, and make it an exciting contest at that. Otherwise, your enthusiasm would wane. You'd lose your mind. Sooner or later, the sea of utterly meaningless obligations would swallow you alive.

I couldn't bring myself to say anything about my troubles or how much I missed her, as we'd never gone so far as to reveal our feelings to each other. But on that dark night, the two of us, by way of a single coin, were touched by mutual warmth.

It was like the moment when a crawling baby learned how to stand up and take that very first step. I was in need, and so I called someone.

If you fast-forward a little, the relationship between me and the world gets even uglier. The fact is, it's been a constant battle. I mean, absurdity? That's the least of it! You're trapped, so you force yourself to adapt after a while. Otherwise, if you start thinking too much, you'll suffocate.

As he abandoned himself to grief, the flood of tears seemed inexhaustible, too much for his body to endure, but even so, his weeping persisted with the courage of conviction.

"Resisting death. That's what it comes down to. It's like you're on autopilot: No matter how much you hate life, your body doggedly resists death. Even other people aren't allowed to die. You still try to stop them." Meng Sheng scoffed. "What a joke!"

And let me recklessly, tenderly, tell you one more time: I love you.

As I stood on the edge, you took hold of my heart, and suddenly I realized that somewhere in this great big world, there really was a you that loved me.

I faced reality, where I would learn to live again, this time bold and fearlessly. My body was screaming at me, telling me that life was a gift. The agony of the past few years, like the conflict between the real me and the one everyone knew, is gone. I even feel a little sorry for my old self, so feeble and self-pitying. It seems I've finally come around to living the life I've always dreamed of.

"Thank you for making me shiny."

Whatever Raymond was eating smelled disgusting, like gently reheated vomit.

"It occurs to me that there are many things in life that I've never considered doing, Raymond. I suppose I hadn't realized that I had any control over them. That sounds ridiculous, I know"

If I told her that staring at a pot waiting for it to boil makes me feel like I'm being reduced down little by little, she'd never understand

'No office romances for you, then?'
'I mean, doesn't it seem somehow tainted? Finding love through the filter of work.'

I'd have to wash the pot, my bowl, teacup, glass, chopsticks, knife, and cutting board. Cook, eat, wash up, and before you know it an hour's gone by. I only have two hours after getting home before I have to go to sleep, and if I use one hour on eating, then in the remaining hour I have to take a bath and brush my teeth, then I only have half an hour to live my life! Would you still eat then? For your body? For your health?

Kitten tiny
Claws see-through like egg white
Ears moving listening
Eyes moist limpid
The faint smell of liquor in the neighborhood night
You've come a far Way
Welcome hello
Me human you cat

I'm sure you go to the bottom of the world
To a place shining with wind water and light
That world will it exist tomorrow?
Even with just the two of us will it still exist?

"Who are you?" said the little prince.
"Who are you...who are you...who are you...," answered the echo. "Let's be friends, I am lonely," he said.
"I am lonely...I am lonely...I am lonely...," the echo replied.

I decided that I'm going to live—or at least try to live—the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humour, with composure.

devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something with purpose and meaning.

Koppel imagined two men together one day, one unable to speak, and the other unable to hear. What would that be like? "We will hold hands," Morrie said. "And there'll be a lot of love passing between us. Ted, we've had thirty-five years of friendship. You don't need speech or hearing to feel that."

"Okay. This is fear. Step away from it. Step away."

I need to be able to detach from the horror, I need to say, "This is my moment."

"Then you will not forget me after I'm gone. Think of my voice and I'll be there."
Think of your voice.
"And if you want to cry a little, it's okay."

"There isn't a version of me that could've looked away from you"

At first I resolved not to turn around. I wanted to look ahead to where I was going, not back at what I was leaving, but then I turned anyway.

establish the olfactory existence of a human being

A coldness emanates from her center. She reminds me of a black hole in that way. There must be suffering inside her

"Doesn't it overwhelm you sometimes? To be alive? Don't you feel like at any moment you could be torn away from yourself? From your life?"

We are drawn to that new blue, the blue of a wide manufactured sky, an endless, false sea.

"What about right now? I asked. "Is this a big moment?"
"The biggest," he said.
I tried to crystallize the moment. I tried to put it into the glass jar inside of my heart.

you have been cunning and stupid and false and wretched to keep up with the world around you.

I have no control over the world around me, or the people around me, or how they regard me, or how they speak to me. A fury beats in my heart

The word loneliness evolved from the word oneliness, which did not connote lack. It meant to commune with God. But what if you don't believe in God? What happens when you're alone?

You were more interested in finding the real value of each individual.

I pulled out my perpetually silent cell phone and pretended to check my texts, sniffing as if I had a cold.

I like it here, in a way. It's unserious, toy. I live in a dollhouse.

You disparage people (people like me) for their cussedly nonspecific dissatisfactions, because to fail to embrace the simple fineness of being alive

Pregnant, by contrast, is heavy and bulging and always sounds to my ears like bad news: "I'm pregnant."

The closet doors had no handles. None of the woodwork had fixtures. Drawers had gentle indents. The kitchen cabinets pushed open and shut with a click. Franklin, the whole house was on Zoloft.

I wasn't about to pee all over it just because the prospect of living there made me want to slit my wrists.

I wish I could, that I could believe, and sometimes I try very hard to believe, but nothing about my last couple of years suggest that an entity with any kindness is watching over me.

too stifled by our self-awareness or fear to try.

The security code was this: 1-2-3-4. I asked Tommy why he bothered writing that down. Tommy responded that he wrote it down because he could never remember it.

Why do you have so many rings on the phone? It should only ring three times before message. Change this shit, dammit. I hate this stupid beeping. No one likes this Mickey Mouse stuff.

Merry Christmas. You are a special person.
May all your dreams come true.

she had been effectively dead, without a single emotional or spiritual or intellectual stirring in her adult life

seemed to need constant affirmation and authoritative direction to make it through the week

lobotomizingly bland

I just walk around all day pretending to be alive.