September 2011
19 posts
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“It was not my strength that wanted nursing, it was my imagination that wanted...”
– -Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
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“Nothing is more meaningful—more human, really—than our efforts to...”
– -Susan Orlean, from the Introduction of Best American Essays 2005
I have so many quotes that address this very thing. People want to tell their stories. Life is one long story. Life is a series of stories.
However, I cannot help but wonder who the storytelling is for: the listener or the teller?...
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“Our modern identity crisis could be resolved only by never being alone and never...”
– -Hannah Arendt, from The Life of the Mind via The Portable Hannah Arendt
It’s funny because it’s true.
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“We are unknown to ourselves, we men of knowledge—and with good reason. We...”
– -Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Geneology of Morals
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“The streets in New York City are their own country. A knowledge of them gives...”
– -Lucy Grealy, Autobiography of a Face
At times, it’s difficult to remember that the feeling New York gives you is not the same feeling everyone feels wherever they are.
Sometimes I wish I could look at New York with fresh eyes.
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“She disliked remnants.”
– -Margaret Atwood, The Edible Woman
What a clean sentence.
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“Everything goes. I am working very hard at not thinking about how everything...”
– -Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays
The woman nails repetition, time and time again.
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“But people can’t, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and...”
– -James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room
I often wonder about choice and how much of it we have in life—probably more than Mr. Baldwin gives us credit for, but his words are still quite useful.
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“Abandoned possessions were everywhere, oppressive and soul-worrying, creating a...”
– -Don DeLillo, White Noise
Autumn and attics have the same smell: musty nostalgia.
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“For him the universe did not extend beyond the silky circumference of her...”
– -Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary
I’ll be away, at a dear friend’s wedding, for the rest of the week. Enjoy the chill in the air!
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“Prushevsky had a sudden desire to be in the big city far away, where people...”
– -Andrey Platonov, The Foundation Pit
This makes me want to have a renaissance with New York.
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“The hermit’s strength is measured not by how far away he has gone to live,...”
– -Italo Calvino, The Castle of Crossed Destinies
Nothing says “hermit in the city” like a chilly rain. Autumn, is that you?
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“You’ll lose it if you talk about it.”
– -Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (stated by Jake Barnes)
The more people you tell, the less it’s yours…facts just become stories.
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“Nevertheless, unless one is in love, or satisfied, or ambition-driven, or...”
– -Truman Capote, “New York”
It’s a good thing I’m one (or more) of those things…
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“It was a hot, peaceful, optimistic sort of day in September.”
– -Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado
Sure we’ve seen plenty of Elaine here already, but she’s helping me wish everyone a lovely Labor Day and a lovelier autumn. 