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Quote by Sheila Heti

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How Should a Person Be?

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Sheila Heti
Sheila Heti

Sheila Heti is a Canadian writer born on December 25, 1976. Her works are known for their unique narrative style and profound self-reflection. more

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“The idea that others saw in me one that was not the I whom I knew, one whom they alone could know, as they looked at me from without, with eyes that were not my own, eyes that conferred upon me an aspect destined to remain always foreign to me, although it was one that was in me, one that was my own to them (a "mine," that is to say, that was not for me!)—a life into which, although it was my own, I had no power to penetrate—this idea gave me no rest.”

LifeSelfRealityPerception
Book:One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand
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“Solitude is never where you are; it is always where you are not, and is only possible with a stranger present; whatever the place or whoever the person, it must be one that is wholly ignorant concerning you, and concerning which or whom you are equally ignorant, so that will and sensation remain suspended and confused in an anxious uncertainty, while with the ceasing of all affirmation on your part, your own inner consciousness ceases at the same time. True solitude is to be found in a place that lives a life of its own, but which for you holds no familiar footprint, speaks in no known voice, and where accordingly the stranger is yourself.”

LifeSelfSolitudeLonelyStrangerUncertainty
Book:One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand
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“The same virtues, in the end, the same virtue (love), are required throughout, and fantasy (self) can prevent us from seeing a blade of grass just as it can prevent us from seeing another person. An increasing awareness of 'goods' and the attempt (usually only partially successful) to attend to them purely, without self, brings with it an increasing awareness of the unity and interdependence of the moral world. One-seeking intelligence is the image of faith.”

LoveSelfFaithVisionFantasyIllusionUnityIntellectGood
Book:The Sovereignty of Good
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