"And this also," said Marlow suddenly, "has been one of the dark places of the earth." - Joseph Conrad

The sight of it made the earth seem unearthly. They were accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there — there you could look at a thing monstrous, beautiful, and free.

It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.

In order to move others deeply we must deliberately allow ourselves to be carried away beyond the bounds of our normal sensibility