Revenge is a really narrow scope through which to view things. In the same way secrets do, it has this ability to warp everything. But secrets are more inward, and revenge is outward.

Secrets can be poisonous.

Secrets are inherently selfish. The longer you keep them, the harder it is to put yourself in other people's shoes about them and the more irrational your thinking surrounding it becomes.

The sad thing is that often when you expose your secrets and become more honest with yourself, you find the reaction from the outside world is more complicated than the intense guilt you yourself have inflicted.

[Rumors are a] vehicle for anxieties and aspirations that may not be openly expressed.

No matter how old you are, if you're just not an empathetic person, it's a lot easier to concentrate solely on something that is injuring another person to even some score. Hopefully as people grow older, their ability to empathize deepens.

Great ideas are fish in a stream. Your pen/pencil is a spear. If you don't spear them, they'll swim on by. Be ready.