Fleming Slone

“In a threatening situation it is natural to mobilize psychic energy, draw it inward, and use it as a defense against the threat. But this innate reaction more often than not compromises the ability to cope. It exacerbates the experience of inner turmoil, reduces the flexibility of response, and, perhaps worse than anything else, it isolates a person from the rest of the world, leaving him alone with his frustrations. On the other hand, if one continues to stay in touch with what is going on, new possibilities are likely to emerge, which in turn might suggest new responses, and one is less likely to be entirely cut off from the stream of life.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“And as the elevator descends, passing the second floor, and the first floor, going even farther down, I realize that the money doesn't matter. That all that does is that I want to see the worst.”
― Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero

“He wanted to diminish the surface he offered the world, to sleep until everything was consumed.”
― Albert Camus

“My life is nothing but room for you...It could never be filled by anyone but you.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night