the hopelessness that comes from knowing too little and feeling too much (so brittle, so dry he is in danger of the reverse: feeling nothing and knowing everything)

unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

life has a way of forcing decisions on those who vacillate.

I live in a kind of tension between the will to say yes to my suffering, and my inability to utter this yes with complete sincerity.

Nothing moves at the Hotel New Hampshire! We're screwed down here-for life!

If you’ve never changed your mind about something, pinch yourself; you may be dead.

Don't tell me they didn't have a choice. Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers... and all of a sudden, nobody can think of anything to say.

We can only choose whether we will feel and not what we will feel.

When you keep all options open, you’re conflicted and miserable.
Your thoughts are divided.
Your power is diluted.
Your time is thinly spread.
Indecision keeps you shallow.
Get the deeper pleasure of diving into one choice.

An organism at war with itself is doomed.

and it is here that we are, in some pain and with no guarantees, working out our destiny.

We can't change it. We have to decide how we'll respond.

The eye — it cannot choose but see;
We cannot bid the ear be still;
Our bodies feel, where'er they be,
Against or with our will.

When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something. We might realize that this is a very vulnerable and tender place, and that tenderness can go either way. We can shut down and feel resentful or we can touch in on that throbbing quality. (9)

That is what it is. We can’t change it. We just have to decide how we’ll respond.