“there was a time when it wasn’t uncommon to use a piece of string to guide words that otherwise might falter on the way to their destinations. shy people carried a little bundle of string in their pockets, but people considered loudmouths had no less need for it, since those used to being overheard by everyone were often at a loss for how to make themselves heard by someone.”
—the history of love, nicole krauss. (via teachingliteracy)
December 2010
“The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved —loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.”
—Victor Hugo (via kari-shma)
Happy New Year
Judy Garland
And one for the depressives:
Judy Garland - Happy New Year
(Nat King Cole version here.)
“Writing is all that I have. It keeps me alive, as it always has. It is how we imagine not being lonely.”
—Wesley Stace, By George (via nouvelliste)
“Is the printed book destined for eventual extinction? Is the thoughtfully designed book cover approaching obsolescence? The availability of ebooks has indeed increased, and print-on-demand technology will likely change the way books are marketed and purchased. But there is something special about the mass-produced book as an object—it is more than just a presentation of the ideas of an author. When a text is published and the book is designed and printed, it becomes a physical manifestation not just of the ideas of the author but of the cultural ideas and aesthetics of a distinct historical moment.”
—from “By Its Cover: Modern American Book Cover Design” (via tobeshelved)
“Human beings can withstand a week without water, two weeks without food, many years of homelessness, but not loneliness. It is the worst of all tortures, the worst of all sufferings.”
— ELEVEN MINUTES, Paulo Coelho (via thegirlwiththemessyhair)
“Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow. Never expect to outgrow loneliness. Never hope to find people who will understand you, someone to fill that space. And intelligent, sensitive person is the exception, the very great exception. If you expect to find people who will understand you, you will grow murderous with disappointment. The best you’ll ever do is to understand yourself, know what it is that you want, and not let the cattle stand in your way.”
—Janet Fitch, White Oleander (via booktard)
One thing I learned from reading books: ignore the critics. You read books because you want to, not because someone finds it a very good literature. Create your own library.
“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell
yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.
—Rainer Maria Rilke” —
yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.
—Rainer Maria Rilke” —
“If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away. What are we, anyway? Most of what we think we are is just a collection of likes and dislikes, habits, patterns. At the core of what we are is our values, and what decisions and actions we make reflect those values. That is why it’s hard doing interviews and being visible: As you are growing and changing, the more the outside world tries to reinforce an image of you that it thinks you are, the harder it is to continue to be an artist, which is why a lot of times, artists have to go, “Bye. I have to go. I’m going crazy and I’m getting out of here.” And they go and hibernate somewhere. Maybe later they re-emerge a little differently.”
—Steve Jobs to Playboy in 1985. via glenda (via msg)
“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. Eliot”
—www.quotesgarden.com
“A person of good intelligence and of sensitivity cannot exist in this society very long without having some anger about the inequality - and it’s not just a bleeding-heart, knee-jerk, liberal kind of a thing - it is just a normal human reaction to a nonsensical set of values where we have cinnamon flavored dental floss and there are people sleeping in the street.”
—George Carlin (via rebeccam)
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
—Kalama Sutta, The Buddha
(via saaraeliisavaris)
(via saaraeliisavaris)
