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9614f1d The dream of radical transformation: of one day waking up and finding himself a wholly different (more confident, more serene) kind of person, of escaping that prison of the given, of feeling divinely capable. Jonathan Franzen
6b4a0fb Sometimes I think my life is nothing but one long process of bodily betrayal. Jonathan Franzen
bd57857 The only guaranteed result of having an affair would be to add yet another disapproving woman to his life. Jonathan Franzen
2f96195 Can you imagine going to bed with Kierkegaard? He'd never stop asking, 'Can I do this to you? Is this okay? Jonathan Franzen
df437ac The interesting people are always immoderate. Jonathan Franzen
1548165 He had shining dark eyes and an oboe voice and mink-soft hair and could seem, even to Gary, more sentient animal than little boy. Jonathan Franzen
ab00420 Only I still had a problem. The problem was my parents. Of the many things I was afraid of in those days - spiders, insomnia, fish hooks, school dances, hardball, heights, bees, urinals, puberty, music teachers, dogs, the school cafeteria, censure, older teenagers, jellyfish, locker rooms, boomerangs, popular girls, the high dive - I was probably most afraid of my parents. Jonathan Franzen
ec073e3 You can think of me thinking of you, because that's what I'll be doing whenever you think of me. Jonathan Franzen
2ca9d15 Music, oh, how faint, how weak, Language fades before thy spell! music thomas-moore Thomas Moore
862211e This was what was keeping me awake at night,' Walter said. 'This fragmentation. Because it's the same problem everywhere. It's like the internet, or cable TV- there's never any center, there's no communal agreement, there's just a trillion little bits of distracting noise. We can never sit down and have any kind of sustained conversation, it's all just cheap trash and shitty development. All the real things, the authentic things, the honest.. Jonathan Franzen
a4a8017 Simply being a "social isolate" as a child does not, however, doom you to bad breath and poor party skills as an adult. In fact, it can make you hypersocial. It's just that at some point you'll begin to feel a gnawing, almost remorseful need to be alone and do some reading - to reconnect to that community." readers-life Jonathan Franzen
e39580d But in the world of consumer advertising and consumer purchasing, no evil is moral. The evils consist of high prices, inconvenience, lack of choice, lack of privacy, heartburn, hair loss, slippery roads. This is no surprise, since the only problems worth advertising solutions for are problems treatable through the spending of money. But money cannot solve the problem of bad manners--the chatterer in the darkened movie theater, the patronizi.. Jonathan Franzen
6d1f0d3 The conscious mind is small and weak compared to the emotional and spiritual power that we call daimonic. It may be the urge to create, take risks, and love. Life may be simple when you avoid the daimon of love, but it is also less passionate and meaningful. Thomas Moore
8e206d4 During any prolonged activity one tends to forget original intentions. But I believe that, when making a start on A Month in the Country, my idea was to write an easy-going story, a rural idyll along the lines of Thomas Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree. And, to establish the right tone of voice to tell such a story, I wanted its narrator to look back regretfully across forty or fifty years but, recalling a time irrecoverably lost, still fee.. J.L. Carr
61baedb Only when you are fully engaged can you see the activity that will make your life feel worth living. Thomas Moore
30e1d06 Thomas Edison was not, Paul thought, the first man to become rich by inventing something clever. Rather, he was the first man to build a factory for harnessing cleverness. Graham Moore
650c597 ongoing care for the soul rather than seek for a cure appreciates the mystery of human suffering and does not offer the illusion of a problem-free life. I sees every fall into ignorance and confusion as an opportunity to discover that the beast residing at the center of the labyrinth is also an angel. To approach this paradoxical point of tension where adjustment and abnormality meet is to move closer to the realization of our mystery-fille.. Thomas Moore
1468e96 It is remarkable, however, that at the very lowest point of Kant's depression, when he became perfectly incapable of conversing with any rational meaning on the ordinary affairs of life, he was still able to answer correctly and distinctly, in a degree that was perfectly astonishing, upon any question of philosophy or of science, especially of physical geography, [Footnote: Physical Geography, in opposition to Political.] chemistry, or natu.. Thomas de Quincey
88b7fc1 Don't take anything literally but always look deeper. For example, if you drink too much, what is your soul looking for in the alcohol? If you eat too much, what part of your soul is in need of nourishing? Think poetically and never respond on a surface level. 4. Thomas Moore
60f3e58 There is nothing neutral about the soul. It is the seat and the source of life. Either we respond to what the soul presents in its fantasies and desires, or we suffer from this neglect of ourselves. The power of the soul can hurl a person into ecstasy or into depression. It can be creative or destructive, gentle or aggressive. Power incubates within the soul and then makes its influential move into life as the expression of soul. If there i.. Thomas Moore
48e9e4a This reductionist vision is reflected in the evolution of his work. Perhaps Mondrian also implicitly realized that by excluding certain angles and focusing only on others he might pique the beholder's curiosity and imagination about the omissions. Eric R Kandel
6dcf8e1 When we step out of our Perfect You, we will be in conflict and this will make us frustrated and unhappy, and even temporarily reduce our intelligence and potentially lead to mental ill health. Dr. Caroline Leaf
c63188a Research shows that 75 to 98 percent of mental, physical, and behavioral illness comes from one's thought life. Caroline Leaf
6c0797c If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought. Caroline Leaf
cf7e20c As he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7)." Caroline Leaf
3ff85eb Our mind is designed to control the body, of which the brain is a part, not the other way around. Matter does not control us; we control matter through our thinking and choosing. We cannot control the events and circumstances of life but we can control our reactions. In fact, we can control our reactions to anything, and in doing so, we change our brains. It's not easy; it is hard work, but it can be done through our thoughts and choices. Caroline Leaf
9ae0cb3 Scientists have found that the amount of time spent milkshake-multitasking among American young people has increased by 120 percent in the last ten years. According to a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry, simultaneous exposure to electronic media during the teenage years--such as playing a computer game while watching television--appears to be associated with increased depression and anxiety in young adulthood, especially among m.. Caroline Leaf
2cc407a In my book, if you want to be treated like an old person, you have to look like one. That means no face-lift, no blond hair, and definitely no fishnet stockings. David Sedaris
8e5f995 It bothered me that the bag bothered me more than head did, but what are you going to do? A person doesn't conciously choose what he focuses on. Those things choose you, and, once they do, nothing, it seems, can shake them. understanding-understanding-owls David Sedaris
59c28ce The slumber party took place in what the Methodists called a family room, the Catholics used as an extra bedroom, and the neighborhood's only Jews had turned into a combination darkroom and fallout shelter. David Sedaris
cd9672f She hit bottom when she physically attacked a deaf-mute. This was a boy of fourteen, a beloved neighborhood figure who delivered for the nearby deli. David Sedaris
77981bb between the disfigurement and the muzzle, it's nearly impossible to catch what she's saying. Always, though, while tripping and stumbling to the music, she looks out into her audience and tells the story about her mother. Most people laugh and yell for her to lift her skirts, but every so often she'll spot someone weeping and swear they can understand her every word. sad tragic unaware David Sedaris
ad6defb Do you mind if we make this a no-smoking bench?" There is no "we." Our votes automatically cancel one another out. What she meant was, "Do you mind if I make this a no-smoking bench?This woman was wearing a pair of sandals, which are always a sure sign of trouble. They looked like the sort of shoes Moses might have worn while he chiseled regulations onto stone tablets. I looked at her sandals and at her rapidly moving arms and I crushed my .. David Sedaris
709355e Good girl, Rachel. Now, let's get the hell out of here. Your mother has a headache that won't quit until you're twenty-one David Sedaris
c6438be The whole notion of the nursing home was something dreamed up by people like my mother; American women with sunglasses, always searching for their tanning lotion or cigarette lighters. David Sedaris
ac1602a If you see devils, they lock you up, but in America, if you see angels, they put you on morning TV. David Sedaris
667a66b Live with liberty, and your imagination can soar. David Sedaris
36903d4 We were standing near the Lollipop Forest when we realized that Santa is an anagram of Satan... Overhearing the customers we would substitute the Satan for the world Santa. David Sedaris
adb203b We'd all turn our backs on privilege, but comfortably, the way you can when you still have access to it. No one wanted to call home asking for money, but we all knew that in a pinch our parents would come through for us. David Sedaris
81fbcf9 I explained that he was Chinese, and she asked if the movie would be in Chinese. "No," I said, "he lives in America. In California. He's been there since he was a baby." "Then what does it matter if he's Chinese?" "Well," I said, "he's got... you know, a sensibility." David Sedaris
d4899f0 Then the flight attendants, garbage bags in hand, glided down the aisle, looking each one of us square in the face and whispering, without discrimination, "Your trash. You're trash. Your family's trash." David Sedaris
c9c429e Half the people I know have dead animals in their freezers: reptiles, birds, mammals. Is that normal? David Sedaris
69011c2 It's not lost on me that I'm so busy recording life, I don't have time to really live it. photography David Sedaris
c1248b9 You want to be French, Mary Frances, that's your problem, but instead you're just another American." I went to the window for that one an saw a marriage disintegrate before my eyes. Poor Mary Frances in her beige beret... "Americans," he repeated. "We don't live in in France, we live in Virginia. Vienna, Virginia. Got it?" I looked at this guy and knew for certain that if we'd met at a party he'd claim to live in Washington, D.C. Ask for a.. David Sedaris