“A departure can feel like a desertion, a judgement on the place and people left behind.”
V.S. Naipaul A Bend in the River

“With each job description I read I felt a tightening of what I must call a soul. I found myself growing false to myself, acting to myself, convincing myself of my rightness for whatever was being described. And this is where I suppose life ends for most people, who stiffen in the attitudes they adopt [...]