Anaïs Nin

We have to work on ourselves because, as Loren Eisley said, every time we come to terms with hostility within ourselves we are creating the possibility of someday not having war. In other words I'm putting back into the self the responsibility for the collective life. If each one of us took very seriously the fact that every little act, every little word we utter, every injury we do to another human being is really what is projected onto larger issues; if we could once begin to think of it that way, then each one of us like a small cell, would do the work of creating a human self, a kind of self who wouldn't have ghettos, a kind of self who wouldn't go to war. Then we could begin to have the cell which would influence an enormous amount of cells around you. I don't think we can measure the radius of the personal influence of one person, within the home, outside of the home, in the neighborhood, and finally in national affairs.
-Anaïs Nin, A Woman Speaks