it was not her fault

that when he went to her he was already over. how could a woman know that you meant nothing that you said; that you spoke only from habit and to be comfortable? after he no longer meant what he said, his lies were more successful with women than when he had told them the truth.

it was not so much that he lied as that there was no truth to tell.

я животное

ты же видишь, я животное. у меня нет слов, меня не научили словам, я не умею думать, эти гады не дали мне научиться думать. но если ты на самом деле такой... всемогущий, всесильный, всепонимающий... разберись! загляни в мою душу, я знаю, там есть все, что тебе надо. должно быть. душу-то ведь я никогда и никому не продавал! она моя, человеческая! вытяни из меня сам, чего же я хочу, - ведь не может же быть, чтобы я хотел плохого!

this is the essence of discrimination

formulating opinions about others not based on their individual merits, but rather on their membership in a group with assumed characteristics.

I saw myself

sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.

and what is good, phaedrus

and what is not good -
need we ask anyone to tell us these things?