The only thing more unthinkable was staying. The only thing more impossible than staying was leaving.

I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought, there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there… and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.

I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed from a time in utter laziness. I’ve lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.

You don’t stab me with a 6” inch knife, pull it out 3 inches & call that progress” - Malcolm X