Can any author ever imagine just how far literature reaches into unfathomed horizons of culture, what it transforms and whom it liberates? - Maria Popova

Where does it live, that place of permission that lets a person chart a new terrain of possibility, that makes her dare to believe she can be something other than what her culture tells her she is, and then become what she believes she can? How does something emerge from nothing?

If you're not a little embarrassed of who you were and how you lived, perhaps the process of growth isn't quite working.

We are always harshest upon those foibles we see in others that we know bedevil our own natures - the ones that most gravely misbecome our self image - for blame is always easier than shame.