Fear that I was very different from everyone else. Fear that deep down inside I was a shallow fraud, that after the revolution or after Jesus came down to straighten everything out, everyone from hippies to hard-hats would unfold and blossom into the beautiful people they were while I would remain a gnarled little wart in the corner, oozing bile and giving off putrid smells. Mark Vonnegut
About This Quote

Earl Nightingale, in his book The Strangest Secret, describes the fear that many people have of being different. Nightingale says that this fear is based on our belief that we are alone in this world, and that there is no one else who shares our interest or our passions. There are others, of course, but they are not in the same place in life as we are. The fear of being different is something that has plagued humanity for all time, and it still plagues us today. We all want to feel like we belong somewhere, and when we don’t, it can produce depression or anger.

One of the greatest fears in the world is the loss of identity. When people find themselves at a crossroads in their lives they can choose to remain the same person they have always been or to begin to change themselves. If you were standing at the crossroads alone, what would you do?

Source: The Eden Express: A Memoir Of Insanity

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  1. Reading and writing are in themselves subversive acts. What they subvert is the notion that things have to be the way they are, that you are alone, that no one has ever felt the way you have.

  2. Writing was a spiritual exercise for my father, the only thing he really believed in.

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