"Every civilisation begins with someone who burned the previous arrangement. The trick is knowing whether you are the fire or the fuel."

Excerpt: "....Other people will see it. They will see it in the way the composure has developed micro-fractures, in the slight delay between the stimulus and the managed response that used to be instantaneous, in the particular quality of fatigue that settles around the eyes of someone who has been holding a structure upright through will alone and whose will has begun to wonder why. ..."

Excerpt: "...Between now and May, do the unromantic thing. Dare to invoice someone for what is duly owed to you. Renegotiate the going rate. Open the bank notification you swiped away and let the number exist in your consciousness without immediately reaching for a spiritual framework to try to cushion it. Embody and imbue the reality of your current net worth. Sit with the figure...."