I'm not senile," I snapped. "If I burn the house down it will be on purpose.
Interpretation
The speaker asserts mental clarity while expressing a drastic decision, highlighting intention and agency.
In this quote, the speaker, likely in a state of frustration, denies being out of touch or incapable of making rational decisions. Instead, they emphasize that any extreme action they take, such as burning down a house, would not be a result of confusion but a conscious choice, illustrating the importance of agency and clarity of thought even in intense situations.
In practice
During a heated discussion about personal choices and consequences.
If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.
I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.
What else can I do? Once you've gone this far you aren't fit for anything else. Something happens to your mind. You're overqualified, overspecialized, and everybody knows it. Nobody in any other game would be crazy enough to hire me. I wouldn't even make a good ditch-digger, I'd start tearing apart the sewer-system, trying to pick-axe and unearth all those chthonic symbols - pipes, valves, cloacal conduits... No, no. I'll have to be a slave in the paper-mines for all time.
We love each other, that’s true whatever it means, but we aren’t good at it; for some it’s a talent, for others only an addiction.
I've learned quite a lot, over the years, by avoiding what I was supposed to be learning.
Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.
Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life.
Trust not to your feelings for whatever they might be now, they will quickly be changed towards some other thing.
Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties.
Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.
Only create associations with positive affinities. Make this a rule of life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world.
Spiritual people should not be ashamed of being wealthy.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.