I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means.
~ Joan Didion / Courtesy Liz Kuball
William B. Irvine on Pleasure
“…though certain activities are pleasurable, engaging in those activities will disrupt our tranquility, and the tranquility lost will outweigh the pleasure gained.”
~ Irvine, William B. / A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (p. 227). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
Yvette Lundy on Oppression
My idea of resistance was not to die as a martyr on the altar of liberated France; I was 20 years old and I loved life too much to offer myself as a sacrifice. I had rather in mind to rot the life of the occupier … And the opportunities are not too lacking if you have a little imagination.
~ Yvette Lundy / The Times, 21st November, 2019
Penelope Lively on Ageing
“There’s this piece of contemporary mythology that the forties are the best time of your life. A load of cock, so far as I’m concerned.”
~ Penelope Lively / Passing On
Umair Haque on Society
“Broken societies make broken people.”
~ Umair Haque
Clive James on Schadenfreude
“I once wrote a poem called “The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered”. I’m afraid I still get a big bang out of seeing the books of my rivals being utterly ignored.”
~ Clive James
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/05/clive-james-books-overrated-all-magic-realism
Patti Smith on Reading
“…I only finish books I love. I don’t date.”
Patti Smith / NYT, September 05, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/books/review/patti-smith-by-the-book-interview.html
James Lovegrove on Judith Kerr
“If Kerr’s books have any message at all, it is that everyone should derive a childlike satisfaction from ordinary, mundane things — family, friends, a roof over your head, a pet — and not take them for granted.”
~ James Lovegrove on Judith Kerr / Financial Times, July 19th 2019
Seamus Heaney on Being Happy
“Walk on air against your better judgement”
~ Seamus Heaney
