between the world and the self
One makes a show of being on good terms with a powerful person (broadly speaking—it could be anyone from the leader of your school class to a famous celebrity). And by doing that, one lets it be known that one is special. Behaviors like misrepresenting one’s work experience or excessive allegiance to particular brands of clothing are forms of givin... See more
Notes & Highlights for The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi
The black world was expanding before me, and I could see now that that world was more than a photonegative of that of the people who believe they are white.
Ta-Nehisi Coates • Between the World and Me
How to get through the day if every indignity capsized you in a ditch? One learned to focus one’s attention.
Colson Whitehead • The Nickel Boys
was impossible, like loving the one who wanted to destroy you, but that was the message of the movement: to trust in the ultimate decency that lived in every human heart.
Colson Whitehead • The Nickel Boys
No surprise, then, that sometimes I dreamed of trying to pull a mask off my face, only to realize that the mask was my face.
Viet Thanh Nguyen • The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Once it has begun to roll downhill, it will continue to roll until released from the natural laws of gravity and inertia. But we are not stones. We are beings who are capable of resisting inclination. We can stop our tumbling selves and climb uphill. The desire for recognition is probably a natural desire. So are you going to keep rolling downhill ... See more
Notes & Highlights for The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi
And I saw that what divided me from the world was not anything intrinsic to us but the actual injury done by people intent on naming us, intent on believing that what they have named us matters more than anything we could ever actually do.
Ta-Nehisi Coates • Between the World and Me
being alone isn’t what makes you feel lonely. Loneliness is having other people and society and community around you, and having a deep sense of being excluded from them. To feel lonely, we need other people.
Notes & Highlights for The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi
To you, not liking yourself is a virtue.