“As for me, I am mean: that means that I need the suffering of others to exist. A flame. A flame in their hearts. When I am all alone, I am extinguished.”

Anthem (1937)

Source: THE INFERNO ** UNDER FIRE ** LIGHT

The Nuts of Knowledge (1903)

Source: I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 39.

section 71 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0039%3Asection%3D71
Cato Maior de Senectute – On Old Age (44 BC)
Context: When the young die I am reminded of a strong flame extinguished by a torrent; but when old men die it is as if a fire had gone out without the use of force and of its own accord, after the fuel had been consumed; and, just as apples when they are green are with difficulty plucked from the tree, but when ripe and mellow fall of themselves, so, with the young, death comes as a result of force, while with the old it is the result of ripeness. To me, indeed, the thought of this "ripeness" for death is so pleasant, that the nearer I approach death the more I feel like one who is in sight of land at last and is about to anchor in his home port after a long voyage.

Source: Be Still My Vampire Heart

"The Celestial Omnibus" (1911)
Context: I am the means and not the end. I am the food and not the life. Stand by yourself, as that boy has stood. I cannot save you. For poetry is a spirit; and they that would worship it must worship in spirit and in truth.