"It's easier to forget the past if nothing ever reminds you of those leathery old scars that can never again feel any loss or pain; the old wounds must be kept open if you are going to remember their cause and regret their occurrence."

“Israel is our enemy. This is an aggressive, illegal, and illegitimate entity, which has no future in our land. Its destiny is manifested in our motto: 'Death to Israel.'”

“I think you learn how to fall well when you're figure skating. Your reflexes are very acute.”

“I've been around the block a couple of times, and the guy I am now is the guy I like to be.”

“She smoked because she craved something to do with her hands, that delicate interplay of light and cup and first inhale. Craved the repetition of it. It was so difficult sometimes to be still in a room, alone with oneself. To bare oneself to the lonely.”

“Truth is not always the best basis for happiness. There are certain lies which may constitute a far better and more secure foundation of happiness. There are people who perish when their eyes are opened.”

Source : "Autobiography of Wilhelm Stekel: The Life Story of a Pioneer Psychoanalyst". Book by Wilhelm Stekel, edited by Emil Arthur Gutheil, p. 206, 1950.

“A woman will flirt with anybody in the world as long as other people are looking on.”

“Those of us who have seen violent death up close, who have seen what high-powered bullets can do to living human tissue, have a horror of inflicting that nightmarish, never forgotten damage on a fellow human being. Perhaps the only more terrifying prospect is that such a fate should befall us or our loved ones. This is why we, a representative cross-section of America's population, keep deadly weapons for personal defense.”

“The Chinese seemed to be mourning Mao in a heartfelt fashion. But I wondered how many of their tears were genuine. People had practiced acting to such a degree that they confused it with their true feelings.”

Source : Jung Chang (2003). “Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China”, p.518, Simon and Schuster