“Perhaps because when everyone they knew and loved continued to die, they realized the value of distance, of not losing one's self completely to love.”
“It's easy to cry when you realize that everyone you love will reject you or die.”
“When the healthy pursuit of self-interest and self-realization turns into self-absorption, other people can lose their intrinsic value in our eyes and become mere means to the fulfillment of our needs and desires.”
“So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.”
“When you're taught to love everyone, to love your enemies, then what value does that place on love?”
“One dies if necessary, one breaks rather than bending. But I bend, because I continue to love myself.”