I'd rather believe in reincarnation than hell. The idea of an afterlife is much so more tolerable when returning is an option.

I am hungry for power, but not to lord over others only to own myself.

Some people simply use their faith as a lexicon of behavioral reasoning without that they would be forced to face their own moral and ethical failings honestly according to a secular code of right and wrong.

I can't bear the thought of living an entire lifetime on this planet and not getting to do all the things I dream of doing, simply because they aren't allowed. I don't think it will ever be enough, this version of freedom, until it is all-inclusive. I don't think I can be happy unless I'm truly independent.

As far as I can remember, I have always wanted everything from life, everything it can possibly give me. This desire separates me from people who are willing to settle for less. I cannot even comprehend how people's desires can be small, ambitions narrow and limited, when the possibilities are endless

I resolve to venture into the city on my own. I look at maps in the library—subway maps, bus maps, and regular maps—and try to memorize them. I’m afraid of getting lost no, I’m afraid of sinking into the city as in a quicksand, afraid of getting sucked into something I can never escape.