eclaircissement

“Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never persistent. It depends in part upon the myth-making imagination of humankind. The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. He must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. This is what uncouples him from belief in his own pretensions. The sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself. Without this quality, even occasional greatness will destroy a man.”

—

from Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib by the Princess Irulan

Frank Herbert, Dune

“Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.”

— James Russell Lowell, “Cambridge Thirty Years Ago,”  Literary Essays (via heartmindawakening)

“Happiness cannot thrive within the prison of obligation.
Live wild, live free, live as master of your own fate.”

— Jonathan Lockwood Huie (via lucifelle)

(Source: elige, via lucifelle)