Mah Quotes

Please believe that one single positive dream is more important than a thousand negative realities.

Check mah flow!

I read because I have to. It drives everything else from my mind. It lets me escape to find other world.

Blah, blah, blah. Demon boy, I can't speak that language. Furthermore, I don't want to pollute my brain by learning it. So it's time for you to learn mine. First lesson-I'm Say-been. I'm oft described as byoo-tee-full and mah-jest'ick.

But you can vanquish the demons only when you yourself are convinced of your own worth.

So of course that was the moment my motherboard decided to do a short internal scan, throw up its hands, and screech, “Dear Lawd, a VAMPIRE has taken mah blood!” and initiate a general shutdown.

S Tugom jednostavno treba umeti... Tuga je kao starica koja prodaje karanfile po kafanama, samo se uporno moraš praviti da je ne primećuješ pa će se kad tad okrenuti i otići, iako ti se u prvi mah čini da će zauvek cvileti kraj stola... I, pazi... Pokloniš li joj samo mrvicu pažnje neće se smiriti dok ti ne uvali čitavu korpu... I onda si gotov... Jer Tuga nikada ne zaboravlja lica galantnih mušterija... I nikada te više neće zaobići.

Transcend your abuse and transform it into a source of courage, creativity and compassion.

Never get involved. That's my motto. I hurt no one. And no one can hurt me.

Though life has to be lived forward, it can only be understood backwards

Revenge is not worthy of you. If you concentrate on revenge, you will keep those wounds fresh that would otherwise have healed.

Then I got this image of my big toe, painted bright red, suddenly developing a face and a hot Southern temper to match, screaming, "What the hell is wrong with mah bad self?

Sleeping with another girl does not always mean you are a lesbian, sometimes it just means the central heating needs fixing

Everytime Ah see uh patch uh roses uh somethin' oversportin' theyselves makin' out they pretty, Ah tell 'em 'Ah want yuh tuh see mah Janie sometime.' You must let de flowers see yuh sometimes, heah, Janie?

Don't trust anyone. Be a cold fish. I hurt no one. And no one can hurt me.

Where are we? (Jericho) Noir’s happy place. It’s where he brings the beings he wants to play with. (Asmodeus) Punish. (Jericho) You say ta-mah-to. I say to-mah-to. (Asmodeus)

mawage \’mah-’wahge\ n. 1; a bwessed awangement 2; a dweam wifin a dweam —T-SHIRT

Listen, ah don't wanna speak ill of the dead but have ah told you that mah mother was a great whopping whale of a cunt? Well she was precisely that - a great whopping whale of a hog's cunt with a dirty maggot for a brain.

He would say her name over and over until it devolved into meaningless sounds - mah REI kuh, mah REI kuh - it became an entry in a dictionary of loneliness.

If people don't wish to be eaten then they shouldn't taste so nice

Here's to real heroes, not the ones who carry us off into the sunset but the ones who help us choose our princes." - commentary on Castles on the Sand

It you taste nice I may bite!

keep in mind that whenever you are in a crisis, you are in the midst of danger as well as oportunity.

Amy! Sit correctly, you are wearing a dress...feet on the floor and your knees together girl...You are trying to catch a husband, not flies !

I Don't sparkle ........I Bite !!!

The future belongs to you. Should anyone insult you, tell yourself this: I am a child of destiny who will unite East and West and change the world.

You may be right in believing that if you study hard, one day you might become fluent in English. But you will still look Chinese, and when people meet you, they’ll see a Chinese girl no matter how well you speak English. You’ll always be expected to know Chinese, and if you don’t, I’m afraid they will not respect you as much.

People with yuan fen are destined to like one another; Friendship develops even if a thousand miles apart. But should yuan fen be absent between two individuals, They will remain strangers despite sitting face-to-face

Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons.

At the age of three my grand aunt proclaimed her independence by categorically refusing to have her feet bound, resolutely tearing off the bandages as fast as they were applied.

Suen Le! (it means, "Let it be.

No matter what else people may steal from you, they will never be able to take away your knowledge.

Jason Vanderholt is off the market." "I wasn't ever for sale," muttered Jason.

I scowled. "Shut up." "We should play Go Fish later." "No." "Mah-jong? Bridge?" "What are you, an old lady?

You have your whole life ahead of you. Be smart. Study hard and be independent. I'm afraid the chances of your getting a dowry are slim. You must rely on yourself. No matter what else people may steal from you, they will never be able to take away your knowledge. The world is changing. You must make your own life outside this home.

PREDOSEĆANJE Poznala sam te kad sneg se topi, topi, i duva vetar mlak. Blizina proleća dušu mi opi, opi, pa žudno udisah zrak. S nežnošću gledah stopa ti trag, trag po snegu belom; i znadoh da ćeš biti mi drag, drag u životu celom. Poznala sam te u zvonak dan, dan pijan, svež i mek. Činjaše mi se već davno znan, znan kad te poznadoh tek. S nežnošću gledah stopa ti trag, trag po snegu belom; i znadoh da ćeš biti mi drag, drag u životu celom. Poznala sam te kad kopni led, led, dok se budi proletnji dah; kad dan je čas rumen, čas setan, bled, kad sretno se i tužno u isti mah. S nežnošću gledah stopa ti trag, trag po snegu belom; i znadoh da ćeš biti mi drag, drag u životu celom.

Create your own destiny!

Day after day, anxiety spun its web around my thoughts and spread to all corners of my heart.

You can vanquish the demons only when you yourself are convinced of your own worth.

That’s exactly what I’ll do, I thought to myself. After dinner, I’m going to ask Big Brother to teach me how to read this map. With Aunt Baba still in Tianjin, there’s obviously nobody looking out for me. I’ll just have to find my own way.

In the mirror, mah hair now long, ah looked like a fucken prince. A King. King Euchrid the First. Monarch of Doghead. Don’t fuck with the King, brother. Don’t fuck with the King. And then ah looked again to Heaven and again ah gave Him thanks.

Yes you can let a guy bite you but not on the first date! he has to pay for dinner ! But you can bite him on the first date at no cost that is quite normal

Remember, the best cure for worry is to do something positive. That’s because fear is endless and formless, whereas even the worst outcome has an ending.

Keep in mind that whenever you are in a crisis, you are in the midst of danger as well as opportunity.

Bubby: All my friends are dying! The bastards! Don't they know I want to play mah-jongg?!

What makes a story a fairytale is the ending.

If I wanted to buy you off I'd, I dunno, give you a big gift certificate to Amazon or something.

Now, with no hate group to run, Jerry spent his days playing Mah-jong on his computer

OH MAH GOD!

Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think.

Sorrow dogged by sorrow is in mah heart.

Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me.

And I know why our friendship must be kept a secret. Or they will kill You like they killed You in the Bible. And then we could not be together. If not for them we would live in this valley together. As best friends. But we must be careful, Jesus. I think I would die if anything happened to You...' - she cried ah think, for ah could hear her little sobs as she spoke - '...just close my eyes and die.' And she let fall a heavy tear, and it passed through the slats and exploded upon mah face, just below the right cheek. And as the droplet began to roll, ah caught it with mah tongue. And ah was shocked momentarily by that tear's sweetness, having known them only as bitter things - only bitter things - always bitter things.

The way I see it, the nineteenth century was a British century. The twenthieth century is an American century. I predict that the twenty-first century will be a Chinese century. The pendulum of history will swing from the ying ashes brought by the Cultural Revolution to the yang pheonix arising from its wreckage. Aunt Baba, pg 226. Year 1979

I knew that I was the least-loved child because I was a girl and because my mother had died giving birth to me.

— Cveće, istina je, ne hrani čoveka, — govorila je ona — ali ono unosi radost u život. Ako biste od lepih mirisnih bašta napravili vrtove, nema sumnje da biste mi dali da jedem, ali biste u isti mah ubijali volju za život.

I often think of life as a deposit of time. We are each allocated so many years, just like a fixed sum in a bank. When twenty-four hours have passed I have spent one more day. I read in the People's Daily that the average life expectancy for a Chinese woman is seventy-two. I am already seventy-four years old. I spent all my deposits two years ago and am on bonus time. Every day is already a gift. What is there to complain of?

I want to be your Prince Charming,

There was no experience, I thought, quite as wonderful as being an American in Paris.

i often see u in mah dreams but i never fell happy bcoz i know itz only a dream

Chris asks, "What are you going to stick to?" "Mah guns, boy, mah guns," I tell him. "That’s the Code of the West.

Dizzle fo shizzle mah nizzle fo rizzle

Movies, good ones, with good leads, they give the audience something they need, okay? A release. An escape. Something that some of us are too broken to give ourselves. Maybe if I'd had a normal childhood, I'd be able to daydream and fantasize and all that on my own, but do you know how many of us can't? People need their dreams. There's a reason why society pays good money for them.

never spoke of it. He took the miracle to his grave. All Andrew ever said about the voyage was that a nun had taught him how to play mah-jongg. Something must have happened during one of their games.

Everytime Ah see uh patch uh roses uh somethin’ over sportin’ they selves makin’ out they pretty, Ah tell ’em ‘Ah want yuh tuh see mah Janie sometime.’ You must let de flowers see yuh sometimes, heah, Janie?

Mother Teresa once said, "Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted are the greatest poverty." To this I will add: Please believe that one single positive dream is more important than a thousand negative realities.

I had to be the kind of person who showed the world that goodness prevails, because the alternative was too bleak to bear. The greatest gift any of us could give humanity was to give meaning to suffering by suffering until we chanced upon enough raw materials to create meaning.

If Mr Mah is unable to defend himself, he deserves to lose. No country in the world has given its citizens an asset as valuable as what we've given every family here. And if you say that policy is at fault, you must be daft." - when asked about a Straits Times report that cited keen opposition interest in contesting Tampines GRC, which National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan helms, so that they can raise the affordability of public housing as an election issue

I just need to have you close. The more time I spend with you, the more I want.

quickly pretended disappointment. We hailed a taxi and squeezed in with all our luggage. Aunt Reine

Naw, Ah ain’t no young gal no mo’ but den Ah ain’t no old woman neither. Ah reckon Ah looks mah age too. But Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say. You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but ’tain’t nothin’ to it but yo’ big voice. Humph! Talkin’ ’bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life.

It's not my fairytale. It's not anything I ever wanted. It's the last thing I've ever wanted. I hate crowds. I don't want to be the envy of every other woman on the planet. I never dreamed of being with a guy with flawless good looks. This is someone else's fairytale.

Želiš u isti mah biti i sama i u društvu, u prošlosti i u sadašnjosti, kriva i nevina. Želiš se izliječiti od boli, ali ne prihvaćaš ideju da bi mogla biti sretna. Odgovarao bi ti zaključak da se nije moguće izvući. Ima jedan problem: ta odluka više nije prihvatljiva.

She does this. Told me JP was cheating on me, trashed my Facebook page-' 'Why?' 'Because she's like that.' 'I thought you two were friends.' 'We are.' 'So how, exactly, do you define the term, "friend"?

She was bedridden falling a fall which broke her hip. X-rays showed that she had cancer of the colon which had already spreed. To my surprise I found her cheerful and free of pain, perhaps because of the small doses of morphine she was being given. She was surrounded by neighbours and friends who congregated at her bedside day and night. In this cosy, noisy, gregarious world of the "all-chinese" sickbed, so different from the stark, sterile solitude of the American hospital room, her life had assumed the astounding quality of a continuous farewell party.

Why, Tea Cake? Whut good do combin’ mah hair do you? It’s mah comfortable, not yourn.” “It’s mine too. Ah ain’t been sleepin’ so good for more’n uh week cause Ah been wishin’ so bad tuh git mah hands in yo’ hair. It’s so pretty. It feels jus’ lak underneath uh dove’s wing next to mah face.

He's got it bad for you, Chloe. Anyone who sees him with you could tell that.

I’ve always felt there are two states of existence: being in Paris and being out of it.

First, you must believe that you can do anything you set your mind to. Remember the old adage: genius is ten percent inspiration, ninety percent perspiration.

I read because I have to. It drives everything else from my mind. It lets me escape to find other worlds.

Ah hears what they say ’cause they just will collect round mah porch ’cause it’s on de big road. Mah husband git so sick of ’em sometime he

An air force general with so many campaign medals on his uniform that it looked like someone was losing a game of mah-jongg on his chest.

Tibet has not yet been infested by the worst disease of modern life, the everlasting rush. No one overworks here. Officials have an easy life. They turn up at the office late in the morning and leave for their homes early in the afternoon. If an official has guests or any other reason for not coming, he just sends a servant to a colleague and asks him to officiate for him. Women know nothing about equal rights and are quite happy as they are. They spend hours making up their faces, restringing their pearl necklaces, choosing new material for dresses, and thinking how to outshine Mrs. So-and-so at the next party. They do not have to bother about housekeeping, which is all done by the servants. But to show that she is mistress the lady of the house always carries a large bunch of keys around with her. In Lhasa every trifling object is locked up and double-locked. Then there is mah-jongg. At one time this game was a universal passion. People were simply fascinated by it and played it day and night, forgetting everything else—official duties, housekeeping, the family. The stakes were often very high and everyone played—even the servants, who sometimes contrived to lose in a few hours what they had taken years to save. Finally the government found it too much of a good thing. They forbade the game, bought up all the mah-jongg sets, and condemned secret offenders to heavy fines and hard labor. And they brought it off! I would never have believed it, but though everyone moaned and hankered to play again, they respected the prohibition. After mah-jongg had been stopped, it became gradually evident how everything else had been neglected during the epidemic. On Saturdays—the day of rest—people now played chess or halma, or occupied themselves harmlessly with word games and puzzles.

I love you. I mean that, all right? I don't know what kind of guys you've been dating in college, but I'm over the novelty of not living with my parents and having my own king size bed. Really.” I couldn't help it. I laughed. That was a new twist in the Talk I'd never heard before.

Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on high, but they wasn’t no pulpit for me. Freedom found me wid a baby daughter in mah arms, so Ah said Ah’d take a broom and a cook-pot and throw up a highway through de wilderness for her. She would expound what Ah felt. But somehow she got lost offa de highway and next thing Ah knowed here you was in de world.

Mah! C'è chi comprende e chi non comprende caro signore. Sta molto peggio chi comprende, perchè alla fine si trova senza energie e senza volontà. Chi comprende, infatti, dice: . Benissimo! Ma a un certo punto ci si accorge che la vita è tutta una bestialità, e allora dica un pò cosa significa il non averne commesso nessuna: significa per lo meno non aver vissuto, caro signore.

I ran over without a word, cradled PLT tenderly in my arms and carried her upstairs. Placing her on my own bed, I wrapped my mortally wounded pet in my best school scarf and lay down next to her. It was a night of grief I have never forgotten.

I had spent enough time in France to know that the words 'chez moi' meant something a thousand times more profound than one's current home. 'Chez moi' was the place your parents came from, or maybe even the region of your parents' parents. The food you ate at Christmas, your favorite kind of cheese, your best childhood memories of summer vacation -- all of these derived from 'chez moi.' And even if you had never lived there, 'chez moi' was knitted into your identity; it colored the way you viewed the world and the way the world viewed you.

After that, the only other possible time to tell her would've been the few seconds between the act of stripping off his boots and then falling downward, and he happily would've told her then, only his lips were smashed against the wooden slats of the floor before he could get the words out. But he promised the king he would tell Jane, and a promise was a promise. So just before the world went dark, he said, against the floor, "Mah Lavy? I ammmm a horrrrfffff." "Pardon me?" Jane's voice came from somewhere in the black clouds behind his lids. He could not repeat himself. Besides, it wasn't his fault his wife couldn't understand plain English.

To celebrate his prosperity, fellow employees and friends urged him to take a young concubine to "serve him". Even Ye Ye's boss, the London-educated K. C. Li, jokingly volunteered to "give" him a couple of girls with his bonus. Ye Ye reported all this in a matter-of-fact way in a letter to his wife, adding touchingly that he was a "one-woman man".

It was from Granny's conversations, year after year, that the meager details of Grandpa's life came to me. When the Civil War broke out, he ran off from his master and groped his way through the Confederate lines to the North. He darkly boasted of having killed "mo'n mah fair share of those damn rebels" while en route to enlist in the Union Army. Militantly resentful of slavery, he joined the Union Army... Mustered out, he returned to the South and, during elections, guarded ballot boxes with his army rifle so that Negroes could vote. But when the Negro had been driven from political power, his spirit had been crushed. He was convinced that the war had not really ended, that it would start again.

Instead, we have simply readjusted our limits of tolerance.

In a little wind-lull, Tea Cake touched Janie and said, ‘Ah reckon you wish now you had of stayed in yo’ big house ’way from such as dis, don’t yuh?’ ‘Naw.’ ‘Naw?’ ‘Yeah, naw. People don't die till dey time come nohow, don't keer where you at. Ah’m wid mah husband in uh storm, dat’s all.’ ‘Thanky, Ma’am. But ’sposing you wuz tuh die, now. You wouldn’t git mad at me for draggin’ yuh heah?’ ‘Naw. We been tuhgether round two years. If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keer if you die at dusk. It’s so many people never seen de light at all. Ah wuz fumblin’ round and God opened de door.’ He dropped to the floor and put his head in her lap. ‘Well then, Janie, you meant whut you didn’t say, ’cause Ah never knowed you wuz so satisfied wid me lak dat, Ah kinda thought—’ The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.

FOOD Adobo (uh-doh-boh)---Considered the Philippines's national dish, it's any food cooked with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and black peppercorns (though there are many regional and personal variations) Almondigas (ahl-mohn-dee-gahs)---Filipino soup with meatballs and thin rice noodles Baon (bah-ohn)---Food, snacks and other provisions brought on to work, school, or on a trip; food brought from home; money or allowance brought to school or work; lunch money (definition from Tagalog.com) Embutido (ehm-puh-tee-doh)---Filipino meatloaf Ginataang (gih-nih-tahng)---Any dish cooked with coconut milk, sweet or savory Kakanin (kah-kah-nin)---Sweet sticky cakes made from glutinous rice or root crops like cassava (There's a huge variety, many of them regional) Kesong puti (keh-sohng poo-tih)---A kind of salty cheese Lengua de gato (lehng-gwah deh gah-toh)---Filipino butter cookies Lumpia (loom-pyah)---Filipino spring rolls (many variations) Lumpiang sariwa (loom-pyahng sah-ree-wah)---Fresh Filipino spring rolls (not fried) Mamón (mah-MOHN)---Filipino sponge/chiffon cake Matamis na bao (mah-tah-mees nah bah-oh)---Coconut jam Meryenda (mehr-yehn-dah)---Snack/snack time Pandesal (pahn deh sahl)---Lightly sweetened Filipino rolls topped with breadcrumbs (also written pan de sal) Patis (pah-tees)---Fish sauce Salabat (sah-lah-baht)---Filipino ginger tea Suman (soo-mahn)---Glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed (though there are regional variations) Ube (oo-beh)---Purple yam

U nas primirje nije put u mir već u rat! Zašto? Zato jer nismo svi htjeli pravdu i zaborav, niti smo to htjeli u isti mah! Kad smo htjeli pravdu, tražili su zaborav, a kad smo htjeli zaborav, zahtjevali su pravdu! Tako je bilo do sad, jer nekad smo poraženi mi, nekad oni. Dok se Božiji dani nekom smiju, drugom se mršte. Nikada na zemlji nije svukud vedro! Poraženi traži pravdu, pobjednik priznanje i slavu! Hudi želi istinu, jaki hoće vlast!

Un giorno in giardino incontrai un prete. Ero sola e gli chiesi in che concetto Dio tenesse i poveri pazzi. «Mah» rispose quello, «che volete, figliola. I pazzi non sono responsabili.» «Mah», proseguii io, «se Dio ha dato il libero arbitrio perché scegliessimo il bene ed il male, perché ce l’ha tolto con la pazzia?» Il prete rimase confuso e se ne andò borbottando, ma a me quel concetto mi rodeva dentro: perché un folle non può più essere padrone della sua volontà?

Jonathan Swift: Guliverova putovanja ll. dio U nadi da ću se još više umiliti njegovu veličanstvu, pripovjedio sam mu o izumu koji je pronađen prije tri-četiri stotine godina: neki prah, pa kad u hrpu toga praha padne najsitnija iskrica, začas će planuti... Najveća zrna, ispaljena ovako, ne nište samo u jedan mah cijele redove vojske, nego i sravnjuju sa zemljom najjače zidove; potapaju na dno morske brodove, s tisuću ljudi na svakom; a kad se spoje lancem, presijecaju jarbole i užeta, raspolovljuju stotine tjelesa i pustoše sve pred sobom. ... Kralja spopala strava od mojega opisa tih grozovitih sprava i od moje ponude. Začudio se kako ovako nemoćan i puzav kukac, kao što sam ja (to su mu bile riječi), može imati takve nečovječne misli, kao da ga nimalo ne diraju svi oni prizori s krvlju i pustošenjem što sam ih naslikao kao obična djela onih razornih strojeva kojima je, reći će on, prvi izumitelj bio valjda kakav zao duh, neprijatelj čovječanstva. Što se njega samoga tiče, izjavio je da ga doduše malo stvari veseli tako koliko ga vesele nova otkrića u umjetnosti ili u prirodi, ali bi volio izgubiti pol kraljevine nego da bude upućen u takvu tajnu; i zapovjedio mi da je ne spominjem nikad više, ako mi je mila glava. ... ... iskazao je mišljenje da onaj tko stvori da dva klasa žita ili dva lista trave izrastu na komadu zemlje gdje je prije rastao samo jedan, zaslužniji za čovječanstvo, i stvarniju uslugu čini svojoj domovini nego sva savcata političarska bagra. lll. dio ... družio bih se samo s nekoliko najvrednijih između vas smrtnika, te bih s s vremenom bih otvrdnuo tako da bi mi mala ili nikakva zlovolja bila što gubim vas, a s vašim potomstvom postupao isto tako; baš onako kako se čovjek veseli što mu se svake godine redaju u vrtu karanfili i tulipani, a ne žali za onima što su povenuli lanjske godine. lV. dio Ako koji vladar pošalje svoje čete na narod gdje je svijet siromašan i neuk, zakonito je da je on polovicu poubija, a druge okrene u robove, da bi ih civilizirao i odvratio od barbarskog načina života. ... I da proslavim hrabrost svojih dragih zemljaka, zajamčim mu da sam vidio kako su za opsade bacili u zrak u jedan mah sto neprijatelja, a isto toliko na brodu; i gledao kako su raskomadana mrtva tijela padala iz oblaka, na veliku zabavu gledateljima. Htjedoh zaći dalje u potankosti, ali mi domaćin naloži da šutim, a sam reče: Tko god zna yahoosku narav, drage će volje vjerovati da bi ovako jadna životinja bila podobna učiniti sve što sam spomenuo, da joj je snaga i vještina jednaka sa zlobom.

Alcenith Crawford (a divorced ophthalmologist): "We women doctors have un-happy marriages because in our minds we are the superstars of our families. Having survived the hardship of medical school we expect to reap our rewards at home. We had to assert ourselves against all odds and when we finally graduate there are few shrinking violets amongst us. It takes a special man to be able to cope. Men like to feel important and be the undisputed head of the family. A man does not enjoy waiting for his wife while she performs life-saving operations. He expects her and their children to revolve around his needs, not the other way. But we have become accustomed to giving orders in hospitals and having them obeyed. Once home, it's difficult to adjust. Moreover, we often earn more than our husbands. It takes a generous and exceptional man to forgive all that.

Oko se sporo privikava na polutamu, na zalelujanu prostoriju bez jasnih kontura, na treperave senke. Privučen plamenom, pogled se ustremljuje na lampu, na tu još jedinu svetlu tačku u velikom mraku sobe, ustremljuje se na nju kao zalutala muva i zaustavlja se na tom jedinom izvoru svetlosti, koje treperi kao neka daleka, slučajna zvezda. Na trenutak zaslepljeno i kao omađijano tom svetlošću, oko ne vidi ništa drugo do tu svetlost, ništa, ni druge senke, ni zalelujane površine, ni krpe koje se klate; ništa. Oko vidi samo tu svetlost, taj grebenasti plamen, nekako izvan prostora, kao što su zvezde izvan prostora, a zatim počinje polako da je rastvara (tu svetlost), da je prelama kroz svoju prizmu, da otkriva u njoj sve boje spektra. I tek tada, kada ju je rastvorilo, kada ju je raščinilo, oko otkriva, u sporim talasima sve bleđe svetlosti koja se širi oko plamena, sve ono što se još može otkriti međ naborima senki i praznine: prvo cilinder, taj kristalni omotač plamena, u prvi mah sasvim neprimećen, apstrahovan, kao da je to samo eho plamena i svetle jezgre, eho iza kojeg nastupa tama, jasno, kao da je svetlost izrezana staklom, kao da je smeštena u jamu, ukopana u mrak, pa okolo vlada ne samo pomračina, nego neka druga materija, gusta i sasvim različite specifične težine od one kojom je obavijen plamen. Ali to traje samo tren. Samo dok se oko ne privikne na tamu, nego na svetlost. Tada oko otkriva polako varku i vidi garež na bokovima cilindra, garež koja se preliva iz karatamnog u srebrnkasto, kao na oslepelom ogledalu, i vidi da taj stakleni omotač nije granica svetlosti, kao što otkriva, ne bez čuđenja, i da je srebrnkasti preliv gareži takođe varka, a da poređenje sa oslepelim ogledalom nije igra duha nego igra svetlosti, jasno vidljiva u okruglom ogledalu koje stoji uspravno iza cilindra i u kojem se vidi drugi plamen, plamen-blizanac, gotovo nestvaran, ali plamen; i ako ga oko sve dosad nije primećivalo, to je bilo samo stoga što se duh opirao toj varci, što duh nije hteo da prihvati privid (kao na onom crtežu gde oko vidi belu vazu, vazu ili peščanik, ili putir, sve dok duh – volja? – ne otkrije da je ta vaza praznina, negativ, dakle privid, a da su pozitivna i, dakle, stvarna ona dva identična profila, ona dva lika okrenuta licem jedan prema drugom, taj simetrični "en face", kao u ogledalu, kao u nepostojećem ogledalu, čija bi osa prolazila kroz osu sad već nepostojeće vaze-peščanika, putira, sasude, dvostrukom, zapravo, ogledalu, kako bi oba lika bila stvarna, a ne samo jedan, jer u protivnom onaj drugi bi bio samo odraz, odjek onog prvog, i tada više ne bi bili simetrični, ne bi bili čak ni stvarni; kako bi, dakle, oba lika bila ravnopravna, oba platonovski prauzori a ne samo jedan, jer u protivnom onaj drugi bi bio nužno samo "imitatio", odraz odraza, senka; pa stoga ta dva lika, posle dužeg posmatranja jednako se približavaju jedan drugom, kao u želji da se spoje, da potvrde svoju identičnost).

In the early 1970s, racial and gender discrimination was still prevalent. The easy camaraderie prevailing in the operating room evaporated at the completion of surgical procedures. There was an unspoken pecking order of seating arrangements at lunch among my fellow physicians. At the top were the white male 'primary producers' in prestigious surgical specialties. They were followed by the internists. Next came the general practitioners. Last on the list were the hospital-based physicians: the radiologists, pathologists and anaesthesiologists - especially non-white, female ones like me. Apart from colour, we were shunned because we did not bring in patients ourselves but, like vultures, lived off the patients generated by other doctors. We were also resented because being hospital-based and not having to rent office space or hire nursing staff, we had low overheads. Since a physician's number of admissions to the hospital and referral pattern determined the degree of attention and regard accorded by colleagues, it was safe for our peers to ignore us and target those in position to send over income-producing referrals. This attitude was mirrored from the board of directors all the way down to the orderlies.