Or

“When the enemy enthusiastically embraces you, and the fellow countrymen bitterly reject you, it is hard not to wonder if you are, in fact, a traitor.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia

“There's something a little depressing about such a united opinion that you did your best work twenty years ago.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“IT IS SO CURIOUS how hearing something once in your youth can dictate a thought pattern all the way through your life. I was nine, a man said something nonchalantly, and now when I see a slate at age thirty-six, as far as I'm concerned, its primary use is for beheading boys. Once that's done it can be used for roofing.”
― Rob Delaney, Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.

“As the room filled up, the dogs, intent on being part of the pack, would join as well, and excited by the party they were then attending, would wrestle with each other, or whomever they could find. So before long, I would be smothered in three kids and a couple of loud dogs, all in a room where I went, remember, to get away from the noise and chaos. This vexed me. Julie asked about the idea of setting boundaries, of simply saying, no, this door is closed. I'll see you all later. And, of course, that's the right thing to do. And of course, I knew that. What's stopping me, I explained, is that if I do that, then I'm putting myself ahead of my family. And that's wrong. Why does that feel wrong, she asked. Because then I'm a bad dad, I said.

I knew it was a distortion, but damn, it felt true. If I'm present for my kids, always looking them in the eyes, able and willing to engage in conversation any time of the day or night, then I'm not a bad dad. If not, then I'm a bad dad. It's of note that there is no clear path here to being a good dad, only a forestalling of bad-dadness.”
― John Moe, The Hilarious World of Depression