Skip to content

    “Most of what we see today in this virtual world we play in is not self-love but self-obsession. Men and women throw a mask on it and call it self-love, but it’s not. When you love yourself, that light shines through, it beams out of you penetrating into the hearts and minds of others, inspiring them to love themselves too. When you’re obsessed with yourself, you produce no light, only darkness. Self-obsessed people want the world darker so they can burn brighter. To put it in less abstract terms, when someone stumbles into you (be it in the physical or virtual world) will they leave feeling fuller, stronger, lovelier? Or, will they leave feeling less? That is the fundamental difference between self-love and self-obsession. Those who love themselves show others how to love themselves too.”

    Cole Schafer (January Black), One Minute, Please? (Page 5)

      “God doesn’t talk. He listens. That’s why he’s the best of us. Nobody listens. But God listens. Or, at least, I’d like to think he listens.”

      Cole Schafer

        “My writing is intentionally dark so that people can feel less alone in their own darkness.”

        Cole Schafer

          “My aunt and uncle in their country home taught me how to be okay with sitting still, a quality that has been as important to my career as anything. To be a decent writer, you have to be okay with either writing or doing absolutely nothing. I’m a firm believer that the only way to be creative is to sit around and do nothing until you get bored enough to entertain yourself.”

          Cole Schafer

            “Rich people want to be cool. Cool people want to be rich. So, just be happy.”

            Cole Schafer

              “Greatness without goodness is not greatness.”

              Cole Schafer

                “All of us can live a much easier existence if we stopped expecting greatness and started expecting something less. At least when you expect failure in everything that you do, you start living your life doing the shit you actually want to do versus doing the shit you think will help you achieve some unpromised outcome.”

                Cole Schafer

                  “When we condition our minds to run away from boring, quiet, slow, difficult, thought-provoking moments, we’ve conditioned them to avoid the very moments that are required to make books, art, music, science and code.”

                  Cole Schafer

                    “It’s taken me many years of being overly competitive with those around me to discover that it’s impossible to be totally happy whilst competitive because it’s impossible to be competitive without being comparative.”

                    Cole Schafer

                      “Make the world question whether or not there isn’t one of you but ten of you. Create. Create. Create. Create some more. If you’re young, when you’re young, sacrifice everything. Sacrifice love if you have to (because if it’s love it won’t get away). Sacrifice sleep. Sacrifice peace of mind. Sacrifice sorry looks from family members at the dinner table. Sacrifice your pride. Make ends meet through whatever means possible by day and once the light turns to darkness, follow your muse like a hound on the scent of some bloody, dying thing.”

                      Cole Schafer

                        “When I started writing this piece, I didn’t know where exactly I was going to land. I never know where I’m going to land when I start writing something. In fact, I’m deeply skeptical of any writer that claims they have the precognition to know where they’re going to end up before they’ve even started.”

                        Cole Schafer

                          “If you wouldn’t do it if nobody was watching, don’t do it.”

                          Cole Schafer

                            “You shouldn’t worry about whether or not you have something to say, as long as you’re saying exactly what you mean without holding anything back.”

                            Cole Schafer

                              “The writers that are holding back are the writers that are taking themselves too seriously.”

                              Cole Schafer

                                “If you want to be a good writer, if you want to be a writer that has something to say, you can’t be afraid to write your truths, even if these truths are going to hurt some people around you. Good writers hurt their friends from time to time, this is the cost of doing business, this is the cost of writing truths.”

                                Cole Schafer