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911c8dd The houses looked like something a child might draw, a row of shaky squares with triangles on top. Add a door, add two windows. Think of putting a tree in the front yard, and then decide against it because branches aren't worth the trouble. creativity David Sedaris
2504e5f I don't know why it was, exactly, but nothing irritated my father quite like the sound of his children's happiness. Group crying, he could stand, but group laughing was asking for it, especially at the dinner table. crying laughter David Sedaris
59099d7 I'd think it strange that the boardinghouse attracted both him and me, but that's what cheap places do -- draw in people with no money. An apartment of my own was unthinkable at that time of my life, and even if I'd found an affordable one it wouldn't have satisfied my fundamental need to live in a communal past, or what I imagined the past to be like: a world full of antiques. community living money David Sedaris
c59196a I can't remember the last time I've enjoyed silence in an American theater. It's easy to believe that our audiences spend the day saying nothing, actually saving their voices for the moment the picture begins. David Sedaris
46ae947 I look into the future and see my brother's face, impossibly middle-aged. His daughter has rejected all of his values, and stands now on the dais of a major university, the valedictorian preparing to deliver her commencement speech. What will she think when her dad stands in the aisle, releasing a hog call and raising his T-shirt to reveal the jiggling message painted upon his bare stomach? Will she turn away, as my father predicts, or migh.. David Sedaris
6e0b285 Finally he was hit by a train while walking, which is strange because trains don't generally sneak up on people. For the most part, barring a derailment, you know exactly where to find them. David Sedaris
bd89827 Making it worse, I had to sit through another endless preview for Titanic. Who do they think is going to see that movie? David Sedaris
0f13976 I later learn that what I suffered was called blunt force trauma. It's remarkably similar to how I felt after the election, as if I'd been slammed into a wall or hit by a car. Both pains persist-show no signs, in fact, of ever going away. The damage is permanent. I will never be the same as I was before the accident/election. resist David Sedaris
2da4288 Another word I've added to "the list" is "conversation," as in "We need to have a national conversation about_________." This is employed by the left to mean "You need to listen to me use the word 'diversity' for an hour." The right employs obnoxious terms as well--"libtard," "snowflake," etc.--but because they can be applied to me personally it seems babyish to ban them. I've outlawed "meds," "bestie," "bucket list," "dysfunctional," "expa.. David Sedaris
9867b3e Honestly, though, does choice even come into it? Is it my fault that the good times fade to nothing while the bad ones burn forever bright? Memory aside, the negative just makes for a better story: the plane was delayed, an infection set in, outlaws arrived and reduced the schoolhouse to ashes. Happiness is harder to put into words. It's also harder to source, much more mysterious than anger or sorrow, which come to me promptly, whenever I .. David Sedaris
323ecc7 The Bible says that it's all right to cast the first stone if someone dead is telling you to do it David Sedaris
0928ec1 I like the kind of man John is. He watches things closely and then does nothing with the information. David Sedaris
b24a778 Low ceiling, stone walls, a dirt floor stamped with paw prints. I never go in without announcing myself. 'Hyaa!' I yell. 'Hyaa. Hyaa!' It's the sound my father makes when entering his toolshed, the cry of cowboys as they round up dogies, and it suggests a certain degree of authority. Snakes, bats, weasels --it's time to head up and move on out. humor scared David Sedaris
6d587d6 At what point had I realized that class couldn't save you, that addiction or mental illness didn't care whether you'd taken piano lessons or spent a summer in Europe? David Sedaris
a1b6418 I can't seem to fathom that the things important to me are not important to other people as well, and so I come off sounding like a missionary, someone whose job is to convert rather than listen. ... It's not that I don't like her - far from it - I just worry that, without a regular job and the proper linoleum, she'll fall through a crack and disappear to a place where we can't find her. David Sedaris
088be65 March 30, 1998 Because I was in a bind with my BBC story, I devoted most of my day to defrosting the freezer. David Sedaris
4788364 All I want to do is make serious movies that explore social issues and turn a profit, and slip the schnitzel to Jane DePugh. James Ellroy
6f9c0d0 I indulge prayer when the world seems incomprehensible and only a plea to the incomprehensible makes sense. James Ellroy
4ccb2b1 Bissell fingered his napkin. "I do, Mr. Boyd. And I know how generous Mr. Hoffa, Mr. Marcello and a few other Italian gentlemen have been to the Cause, and I know that you possess a certain amount of influence in the Kennedy camp. And as the President's chief Cuban-issue liaison, I also know that Fidel Castro and Communism are a good deal worse than the Mafia, although I wouldn't dream of asking you to intercede on our friends' behalf, beca.. James Ellroy
e41d9ea To die is to lose the self and rejoin the rest. He had kept himself, and lost the rest. Ursula K. Le Guin
ffa08cb 'yn hw lmkn ldhy ymkn lqwh 'n tkhdm fyh `ly 'Hsn wjh w tthmr 'Hsn thmr@?? Hermann Hesse
fa725be Our days are precious but we gladly see them going If in their place we find a thing more precious growing: A rare, exotic plant, our gardener's heart delighting; A child whom we are teaching, a booklet we are writing. Hermann Hesse
9e628fa When we hate a person, what we hate in his image is something inside ourselves. Whatever isn't inside us can't excite us. Hermann Hesse
e47d118 Nothing is caused by demons. There are no demons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait, and fast. Hermann Hesse
28e1b4d Nothing was, nothing will be; everything is, everything has existence and is present. Hermann Hesse
1722327 n ljmyl w l'jml m`rDn llfn mdh ySbHn trykh w Zhr@ `ly wjh l'rD .hdh shy' n`lmh w nHzn lh ,w l nHwl jdyn tGyyrh,l'nh l sbyl ly tGyyrh. Hermann Hesse
91a5c15 qd t'ty `Swr mn lrhb w lbw's lshdyd,fdh kn mn lmqdr 'n ykwn mn lbw's s`d,fl ymkn l 'n ykwn dhlk ls`d fkry,ytjh ly lwr lnqdh thqf@ l`Swr lqdym@ ,w ytjh ly l'mm lymthl fy Sf w rD. Hermann Hesse
c460a00 khyr llnsn 'n ymwt `l~ yd lfshyyn mn 'n ytHwl hw l~ 'Hd lfshyyn. Hermann Hesse
8c50669 Let us enjoy this fruit and await further ones, Hermann Hesse
573f0ce Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat any time and be yourself. --Hermann Hesse Marti Olsen Laney
fadcb5f shkhh pr shkhwfh" pywsth bh yn sw w an sw dr tb w tb st shkhh pr shkhwfh dr bd pywsth dr frz w frwd dr tb w tb st dlm chwn khwdkhy dr khshkhsh rwzhy rwshn w tr dr khshkhsh khwstn w chshm frw bstn. t khh shkhwfh h prkhndh shwnd w shkhh h bh br nshynd t khh dl syrb z khwdkhy arm gyrd w qrr khnd khh bzy by qrr zndgy nbshth z shwr st w nh byhwdgy" Hermann Hesse
c4dd636 lHb yjb 'n l ytDr` 'w yuTlb, yjb 'n tkwn ld~ lHb mn lqw@ m yj`lh wthqan mn nfsh w mktfyan bh. w `ndh l yktfy b'n ySbH mnjdhban bl ySbH jdhban. Hermann Hesse
8c64add lyn 'n njtz fy mrH wSf lmkn b`d lmkn w'l nt`lq b'y mkn t`lqn blwTn , frwH l`lm l tryd n tqydn wn tDyq `lyn, bl tryd 'n trf`n drj@ b`d drj@, w'n tws` `lyn Hermann Hesse
cbf9b07 From the most ancient days of China to the myths of the Greeks we find the concept of an ideal, heavenly life for men under the hegemony of music. The Glass Bead Game is intimately bound up with this cult of music ("in eternal transmutations the secret power of song greets us here below," says Novalis)." Hermann Hesse
5781ab9 n mn lmmkn lshkhS m 'n l ytjwz fy Hyth qnwnan wHdan, w m` dhlk yZl sflan w l`ks SHyH. `mlyan hy ms'l@ qn`@ fqT. Hermann Hesse
e65b688 Anyone knowing how to live for the moment, to live in the present as she did, treasuring every little wayside flower with loving care and deriving value from every playful little instant, had nothing to fear from life. Hermann Hesse
a3876d7 We all share the same origin, our mothers; all of us come in at the same door. - from the preface to 'Demian Hermann Hesse
0d56f58 The purpose and the essential properties were not somewhere behind the things, they were in them, in everything. Hermann Hesse
8dc1d1a Vea: "La mayor parte de los hombres no quieren nadar antes de saber." ?No es esto espiritual? !No quieren nadar, naturalmente! Han nacido para la tierra, no, para el agua. Y, naturalmente, no quieren pensar: como que han sido creados para la vida. !No para pensar! Claro, y el que piensa, el que hace del pensar lo principal, ese podra acaso llegar muy lejos en esto; pero ese precisamente ha confundido la tierra con el agua, y un dia u otro s.. Hermann Hesse
3b6f518 Nothing is harder yet nothing is more necessary, than to speak of certain things whose existence is neither demonstrable nor probable. The very fact that serious and conscientious men treat them as existing things brings them a step closer to existence and to the possibility of being born. Spoken by Albertus Secundus in "Das Glasperlenspiel" creativity-and-attitude Hermann Hesse
a487082 He waited, listening with deep enjoyment, for the end of the sonata. In the still, twilit corridor it sounded so lonely and unworldly, and so brave and innocent also, both childlike and superior, as all good music must in the midst of the unredeemed muteness of the world. Hermann Hesse
bda9c67 That man is not yet a finished creation but rather a challenge of the spirit; a distant possibility dreaded as much as it is desired; that the way towards it has only been covered for a short distance and with terrible agonies and ecstasies even by those few for whom it is the scaffold today and the monument tomorrow - all this the Steppenwolf, too, suspected. Hermann Hesse
0221ba0 Ich bin ein Stern am Firmament, der die Welt betrachtet, die Welt verachtet und in der eignen Glut verbrennt. Ich bin das Meer, das nachtens sturmt, das klagende Meer, das opferschwer zu alten Sunden neu turmt. Ich bin von Eurer Welt verbannt, vom Stolz erzogen, vom Stolz belogen, ich bin der Konig ohne Land. Ich bin die stumme Leidenschaft, ich-bin-ein-stern poems Hermann Hesse
b531dca Sufria menos con un dolor real y fisico que con el temor de agonia de que volviera la conciencia y me arrebataran la copa del olvido que la muerte me brindaba. Hermann Hesse