inner conflict quotes

I spend a lot of time balancing between faith and disbelief.

It was completely fruitless to quarrel with the world, whereas the quarrel with oneself was occasionally fruitful and always, she had to admit, interesting.

Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.

You have to be willing to go to war with yourself and create a whole new identity.

Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‚people.‘ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war… Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.

My lighter, more superficial side will always steal a march on the deeper side and therefore always win. You can’t imagine how often I’ve tried to push away this Anne, which is only half of what is known as Anne – to beat her down, hide her.

Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.

What nourishes me also destroys me.

It is hard to contend against one’s heart’s desire; for whatever it wishes to have it buys at the cost of soul.

We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives… inside ourselves.

I am no longer sure of anything. If I satiate my desires, I sin but I deliver myself from them; if I refuse to satisfy them, they infect the whole soul.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.