quotes from books

“Woman should have justice as well as praise, and if she is to dispense with either, she can better afford to part with the latter than the former.”

He finally managed to get away from it all. To be free from everything and everyone. He has two weeks in another world. He feels loose and playful. He suddenly has so much time on his hands, and he finds himself imagining all of the things he could do on his trip.

“At least I’ve become acquainted with the Poets and read the Novels. (The Poets, in Amalfitano’s view, were those beings who flashed like lightning bolts, and the novels were the stories that sprang from Don Quixote). At least I’ve read. At least I can still read, he said to himself, at once dubious and hopeful.”

“Each generation has its own task and need not trouble itself unduly by being everything to previous and succeeding generations.”

When I have a reason to do something, I'm more likely to do it than another thing I don't have any reason to do. But often there will be several things that I have at least one reason to do, and I'll be forced to make a choice about which reason takes priority.

“Absence is the figure of privation; simultaneously, I desire and I need. Desire is squashed against need: that is the obsessive phenomenon of all amorous sentiment.”

“And there it was again, that useless, human blame two people will toss between each other when they become too tired or weak to carry the weight of love.”

You are learning to stand on your own. You are learning how little you need and how much you need. You are learning that your needs are different from your desires. You are learning that your desires can pull you away from what you need. You are learning that the things you hate or fear or even just dislike can do the same. You are learning that you can't get rid of your desires or your aversions. You are learning that they exist because you believe some things are good and other things are bad. You are learning that every belief is also a kind of delusion. You are learning that beliefs can pull you away from what you need. You are learning that it's easy to become attached to the things you believe. You are learning that sometimes you don't even realize you're acting based on a belief that is also a delusion. You are learning that your reasons for doing something are not always your actual motivations. You are learning that your desires and aversions can be interpreted as beliefs and vice versa. You are learning that you need to become more aware of the world and yourself.

“The society in which we live includes forms of coercion and oppression by which those who suffer from them are all too often overwhelmed; it includes the most grievous inequalities and unnecessary miseries.”

You want to create a new artwork but you can't seem to get started. You're worried about beginnings and endings. You aren't sure where to begin or how you'll reach an end result that makes any sense.

“Perhaps writing can be beauty and light and also rage and anger.”