Ryan

“At that time the individual did not exist. There was not an awareness of a distinction between “I” and “you”. The birth of I derived from fear of death, and only afterwards an entity which was not I came to constitute you. At that time people did not have an awareness of fearing oneself, knowledge of the self came from an other and was affirmed by possessing and being possessed, and by conquering and being conquered. He, the third person who is not directly relevant to I and you, was gradually differentiated. After this the I also discovered that he was to be found in large numbers everywhere and was a separate existence from oneself, and it was only then that the consciousness of you and I became secondary. In the individual’s struggle for survival amongst others, the self was gradually forgotten and gradually churned like a grain of sand into the chaos of the boundless universe.”
― Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“I had no children, I did not transmit to any creature the legacy of our misery.”
― Machado de Assis, The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

“He who is brave is free”
― Seneca