Outside, the ocean was crashing, waves hitting sand, then pulling back to sea. I thought of everything being washed away, again and again. We make such messes in this life, both accidentally and on purpose. But wiping the surface clean doesn't really make anything neater. It just masks what is below. It's only when you really dig down deep, go underground, that you can see who you really are.

Odysseus draped the towel over his shoulders and stretched his back. You remember practicing with wooden swords? All the moves, the blocks, the counters, getting your footwork right, learning how to be in balance always?Of course you were a hard master.And you recall the first time you went into a real fight, with blood being shed and the fear of death in the air?I doThe moves are the same, but the difference is wider than the Great Green. Love is like that, Helikaon. You can spend time with a whore and laugh and know great pleasure. But when love strikes--- ah, the difference is awesome. You will find more joy in the touch of a hand or the sight of a smile than you could ever experience in a hundred nights of passion with anyone else. The sky will be more blue, the sun more bright. Ah, I am missing my Penelope tonight

There is nothing like —within' or —without.' Both mean either the same thing or nothing.

No two person, ever read the same book.

Forgive them, you might say, for they know not what they do. But there comes a moment in history when ignorance is no longer a forgivable offense, a moment when only wisdom has the power to absolve.

The only sentence that begins with 'I' that's true of me is I'm full of shit.

But that's the thing about being the girl who's spent years convincing the world she's not afraid of anything: At some point, someone is going to find out you're afraid of everything.

We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks— we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?

Sebastian just smiled. "I could hear your heart beating," he said softly. "When you were watching me with Valentine. Did it bother you?""That you seem to be dating my dad?" Jace shrugged. You're a little young for him, to be honest.—"What?" For the first time since Jace had met him, Sebastian seemed flabbergasted.

The highest form of wisdom comes from deep observation, kind realization, and curious actualization.

Your discovery and realization of your personality for the well-being of humanity is much more essential

Realization of your inner divinity is the scientific religion of thinking humanity.