What characterizes a member of a minority group is that he is forced to see himself as both exceptional and insignificant, marvelous and awful, good … - Norman Mailer

Comfortless was my religion, anxiety of the anxieties, for I believed God was not love, but courage. Love came only as a reward.

Historical, religious, and existential treatises suggest that for some persons at some times, it is rational not to avoid physical death at all costs. Indeed the spark of humanity can maximize its essence by choosing an alternative that preserves the greatest dignity and some tranquility of mind.

There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same.