It’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.
Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner
The Persistence of the Past
T
Invisible Identity
I
I am an invisible man.
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
Beyond a Specter
B
I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe.
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
The End is the Beginning
T
The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead.
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
Searching for Self
S
I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
Discovering Freedom
D
When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
Living Over Controlling
L
Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
The Nature of Power
T
Power doesn’t have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it.
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
Responsibility and Recognition
R
To whom can I be responsible, and why should I be, when you refuse to see me?
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
Walking Softly Invisible
W
I remember that I’m invisible and walk softly so as not awake the sleeping ones.
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man