Obey and hate yourself, survive. Disobey, redeem yourself, perish. I thought later how simply and quickly they had introduced that concept to me, as easily as breaking a little finger. For some reason they had decided not to beat me.
Elizabeth Kostova
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In "The Shadow Land" by Elizabeth Kostova, the protagonist reflects on a harsh dichotomy presented to her: obedience leads to survival but at the cost of self-hatred, while disobedience brings the chance for redemption but also the risk of death. This stark choice is introduced to her in an abrupt and almost trivial manner, akin to the simplicity of breaking a finger. The casual approach to such a grave concept highlights...

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The Shadow Land
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Elizabeth Kostova
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Other quotes in The Shadow Land

We went on growing food and eating and sleeping and I cooked for a big crowd here every day, all my family. What else could we do? You just go on, if you have to.
Elizabeth Kostova The Shadow Land
We went on growing food and eating and sleeping and I cooked for a big crowd here every day, all my family. What else could we do? You just go on, if you have to.
Politicians who talk about purity usually end up deciding who is pure and who is not.
Elizabeth Kostova The Shadow Land
Politicians who talk about purity usually end up deciding who is pure and who is not.
I understood in a flash that I must keep my mind safe, whatever came next. I believe now that it was not only enormous luck that brought me this understanding the very first day, but also my habit of living closely with my own mind, alone with it while I practiced.
Elizabeth Kostova The Shadow Land
I understood in a flash that I must keep my mind safe, whatever came next. I believe now that it was not only enormous luck that brought me this understanding the very first day, but also my habit of living closely with my own mind, alone with it while I practiced.
It was the beginning of that long bifurcation that became my life: Obey and hate yourself, survive. Disobey, redeem yourself, perish. I thought later how simply and quickly they had introduced that concept to me, as easily as breaking a little finger.
Elizabeth Kostova The Shadow Land
It was the beginning of that long bifurcation that became my life: Obey and hate yourself, survive. Disobey, redeem yourself, perish. I thought later how simply and quickly they had introduced that concept to me, as easily as breaking a little finger.
But sometimes a man who is very good thinks, I am very bad, and it-destructs his life, everything. Because he does not believe that he has any right to do something, so he does less and less.
Elizabeth Kostova The Shadow Land
But sometimes a man who is very good thinks, I am very bad, and it-destructs his life, everything. Because he does not believe that he has any right to do something, so he does less and less.
I knew people who dreamed all the time about going somewhere else, and they let that ruin their lives. When you are not allowed to do something, it often becomes very important.
Elizabeth Kostova The Shadow Land
I knew people who dreamed all the time about going somewhere else, and they let that ruin their lives. When you are not allowed to do something, it often becomes very important.
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I think I couldn't love him at all if he was the sort of man to make me choose between him and my writing. And
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Her head throbbed as though gremlins were ripping holes in her brain
It's like a government agency that really works.
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He believed that "a day will come when the sexual relations will be regulated in every case by the private will of the parties. The public sentiment, then, or law, … will declare the entire freedom of every man or woman to follow the bent of their private affections, will justify every alliance sanctioned by these affections."
Louis Menand The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
He believed that "a day will come when the sexual relations will be regulated in every case by the private will of the parties. The public sentiment, then, or law, … will declare the entire freedom of every man or woman to follow the bent of their private affections, will justify every alliance sanctioned by these affections."
If a huge genetic gap separated us from our closest relative in the animal kingdom, we could justifiably celebrate our brilliance. We might be entitled to walk around thinking we're distant and distinct from our fellow creatures. But no such gap exists. Instead, we are one with the rest of nature, fitting neither above nor below, but within.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
If a huge genetic gap separated us from our closest relative in the animal kingdom, we could justifiably celebrate our brilliance. We might be entitled to walk around thinking we're distant and distinct from our fellow creatures. But no such gap exists. Instead, we are one with the rest of nature, fitting neither above nor below, but within.
we can safely conclude that God ordained that Job's camels be stolen. That was God's providential plan. But God's purpose was to vindicate Job from the unrighteous accusations of Satan, as well as to vindicate His own holiness.
R.C. Sproul Does God Control Everything?
we can safely conclude that God ordained that Job's camels be stolen. That was God's providential plan. But God's purpose was to vindicate Job from the unrighteous accusations of Satan, as well as to vindicate His own holiness.
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