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11df77d
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She wasn't a person to whom things happen. She did all the happenings.
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Muriel Spark |
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3ebe226
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To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul.
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soul
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Muriel Spark |
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b80e05d
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If you want to concentrate deeply on some problem, and especially some piece of writing or paper-work, you should acquire a cat. Alone with the cat in the room where you work ... the cat will invariably get up on your desk and settle placidly under the desk lamp ... The cat will settle down and be serene, with a serenity that passes all understanding. And the tranquility of the cat will gradually come to affect you, sitting there at your de..
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writing
inspiration
composition
focus
concentration
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Muriel Spark |
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bd20e08
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The word "education" comes from the root e from ex, out, and duco, I lead. It means a leading out. To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul."
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teaching
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Muriel Spark |
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f455313
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Allow me, in conclusion, to congratulate you warmly upon your sexual intercourse, as well as your singing.
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Muriel Spark |
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151a02c
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For those who like that sort of thing," said Miss Brodie in her best Edinburgh voice, "That is the sort of thing they like."
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truth
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Muriel Spark |
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0c68615
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it never really occurred to her that literary men, if they like women at all, do not want literary women but girls.
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men
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Muriel Spark |
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a5332c7
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Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.
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Muriel Spark |
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868aebe
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It is well, when in difficulties, to say never a word, neither black nor white. Speech is silver but silence is golden.
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silence
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Muriel Spark |
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f21875c
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These years are still the years of my prime. It is important to recognise the years of one's prime, always remember that.
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Muriel Spark |
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e61a8ff
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It is difficult for people of advanced years to start remembering they must die. It is best to form the habit while young.
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Muriel Spark |
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f44d48d
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I'm old-fashioned beyond my years.
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Muriel Spark |
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6481aab
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If I had my life to live over again, I would form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practice, as it were, the remembrance of death. There is not another practice which so intensifies life. Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be part of the full expectancy of life.
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Muriel Spark |
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a8ab7d6
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I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife. You are safer when they don't.
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Muriel Spark |
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7817b52
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My novel] took up the sweetest part of my mind and the rarest part of my imagination; it was like being in love and better. All day long when I was busy [...], I had my unfinished novel personified almost as a secret companion and accomplice following me like a shadow wherever I went, whatever I did.
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Muriel Spark |
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dd39eb1
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try as i do, i can't recall her surname. Indeed, her very abstractedness and insubstantial personality seemed to say 'forget me'; she seemed to live in parenthesis;...
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Muriel Spark |
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adf1062
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The word 'education' comes from the root e from ex, out, and duco, I lead. It means a leading out. To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul. To Miss Mackay it is a putting in of something that is not there, and that is not what I call education, I call it intrusion, from the Latin root prefix in meaning in and the stem trudo, I thrust.
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Muriel Spark |
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42ad6a2
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Being over seventy is like being engaged in a war. All our friends are going or gone and we survive amongst the dead and dying as on a battlefield.
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Muriel Spark |
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3e608f1
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Final perseverance is the doctrine that wins the eternal victory in small things as in great
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muriel spark |
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23d57bb
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It's a whydunnit in q-sharp major and it has a message: never talk to the sort of girls that you wouldn't leave lying about in your drawing-room for the servants to pick up.
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Muriel Spark |
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10c4439
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I see no reason to keep silent about my enjoyment of the sound of my own voice as I work.
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Muriel Spark |
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85f4029
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One's prime is elusive. You little girls, when you grow up, must be on the alert to recognise your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur. You must then live it to the full.
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Muriel Spark |
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e5a8c3d
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Phrases like 'the team spirit' are always employed to cut across individualism, love and personal loyalties.
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freedom
groups
independence-fascism
team-spirit
individualism
society
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Muriel Spark |
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cad0b90
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It is not because we are rats that we tend to abandon people who are down, it is because we are embarrassed.
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friendship
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Muriel Spark |
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62540e4
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4:15. Not 4 not 4:30 but 4:15. She thought to intimidate me with the use of quarter hours.
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Muriel Spark |
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1d91da2
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They are demanding equal rights with us,' says Mrs. Fiedke. 'That's why I never vote with the Liberals. Perfume, jewellery, hair down to their shoulders, and I'm not talking about the ones who were born like that. I mean, the ones that can't help it should be put on an island. It's the others I'm talking about. There was a time they would stand up and open the door for you. They would take their hat off. But they want their equality today. ..
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Muriel Spark |
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2636a7f
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Miss Brodie was easily the equal of both sisters together, she was the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle and they were only the squares on the other two sides.
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Muriel Spark |
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bf8ac78
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The Brodie set did not for a moment doubt that she would prevail. As soon expect Julius Caesar to apply for a job at a crank school as Miss Brodie. She would never resign. If the authorities wanted to get rid of her she would have to be assassinated.
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Muriel Spark |
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8f14b46
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Saving and pinching to get married, you're losing the best time of your life.
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marriage
newlyweds
engagement
existentialism
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Muriel Spark |
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72dc56a
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flattening their scorn underneath the chariot wheels of her superiority.
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superiority
proud
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Muriel Spark |
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ed50c20
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Sex is all right" he says "It's all right at the time, and it's all right before" says Lise, "but the problem is afterwards. That is, if you're not an animal. Most of the time, afterwards is pretty sad."
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Muriel Spark |
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c6787b3
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Remember you must die.
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Muriel Spark |
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7dc2c7a
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Oh" she says "the inconceivable sorrow of it, those chairs piled up at night when you're sitting in a cafe. The last one left"."
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Muriel Spark |
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0ca6655
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How do you know when you're in love?' she said. 'The traffic improves and the cost of living seems very low.
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Muriel Spark |
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4a441f7
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You don't know what it's like trying to eat enough to live on and at the same time avoid fats and carbohydrates.
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Muriel Spark |
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0d39d7c
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It's only possible to betray where loyalty is due
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quote
betrayal
loyalty
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Muriel Spark |
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236271d
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People who want to write books do so because they feel it to be the easiest thing they can do. They can read and write, they can afford any of the instruments of book writing such as pens, paper, computers, tape recorders, and generally by the time they have reached this decision, they have had a simple education.
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writing-books
writing-advice
writing-process
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Muriel Spark |
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2f2ba5a
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If you don't remember Death, Death reminds you to do so. And if you can't cope with the facts the next best thing is to go away for a holiday.
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Muriel Spark |
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90cf44f
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There was altogether too much candor in married life; it was an indelicate modern idea, and frequently led to upsets in a household, if not divorce...
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married-life
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Muriel Spark |
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f3643d9
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If I had my life over again I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practise, as it were, the remembrance of death. There is no other practise which so intensifies life. Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be part of the full expectancy of life. Without an ever-present sense of death life is insipid. You might as well live on the whites of eggs.
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Muriel Spark |
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11875b7
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When people say that nothing happens in their lives I believe them. But you must understand that everything happens to an artist; time is always redeemed, nothing is lost and wonders never cease.
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Muriel Spark |
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4c0a513
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It was a gusty day, and from the windows of Caroline's top-floor flat, only the sky was visible with its little hurrying clouds. It was a day when being indoors was meaningful, wasting an afternoon in superior confidences with a friend before the two-barred electric heater.
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friendship
|
Muriel Spark |
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2a0ba45
|
One's prime is the moment one was born for.
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Muriel Spark |
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bbddf71
|
To put it squarely, as I say in my memoir, the eternal triangle has come full circle.
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Muriel Spark |