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| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| 8ad8bda | So I might say to her: look, the thing you have to appreciate is that we'd just been through a century of relativism and deconstruction, in which we were informed that most of our fondest-held principles were either uncertain or simple wishful thinking, and in many areas of our lives we had already been asked to accept that nothing is essential and everything changes--and this had taken the fight out of us somewhat. | relativism | Zadie Smith | |
| 9b3a669 | And don't ever underestimate people, don't ever underestimate the pleasure they receive from viewing pain that is not their own, from delivering bad news, watching bombs fall on television, from listening to stifled sobs from the other end of a telephone line. Pain by itself is just Pain. But Pain + Distance can = entertainment, voyeurism, human interest, cinema verite, a good belly chuckle, a sympathetic smile, a raised eyebrow, disguised .. | Zadie Smith | ||
| 902709d | Faced with the same reality, we in the West tend to opt for a stiff drink instead. But people will insist upon shooting us sideways glances and saying things like, "It's two o'clock in the afternoon!" and so we put down our glasses and sigh." | Zadie Smith | ||
| e1d1bca | They were smooth and bright, and their timing was wonderful, and they were young and hilarious. It was really something to see, they thought, and this was why they spoke loudly and gestured, inviting onlookers to admire. | Zadie Smith | ||
| 0537619 | She was the kind of person who never gave you enough time to miss her. | people relationships | Zadie Smith | |
| 15df115 | I don't know about you but I find I want to resist Buber here. Because personally I am pretty attached to my own feelings (and the complex, fascinating personality they imply). But even if I can't accept Buber totally here, I do find him a useful correction to some of my worse instincts. Looking at my life through a Buber lens, for example, I see that it is quite possible that my feelings, as strong as they may be, may disclose no more of r.. | buber feelings i-it i-thou reality | Zadie Smith | |
| 8a3a215 | Either everything is sacred or nothing is. And if he starts burning other people's things, then he loses something sacred also. Everyone gets what's coming, sooner or later. | Zadie Smith | ||
| f6b142e | They are like complex musical scores from which certain melodies can be teased out and others ignored or suppressed, depending, at least in part, on who is doing the conducting. At this moment, all over the world--and most recently in America--the conductors standing in front of this human orchestra have only the meanest and most banal melodies in mind. | Zadie Smith | ||
| 5e324db | Did all friendships--all relations--involve this discreet and mysterious exchange of qualities, this exchange of power? | Zadie Smith | ||
| 92dc721 | At least then, we have the satisfaction of a little short-term pleasure instead of a lifetime of feeling inadequate. | Zadie Smith | ||
| 3732f47 | Writing exists (for me) at the intersection of three precarious, uncertain elements: language, the world, the self. | Zadie Smith | ||
| 847a82c | Lanier is interested in the ways in which people "reduce themselves" in order to make a computer's description of them appear more accurate. "Information systems," he writes, "need to have information in order to run, but information underrepresents reality" (my italics). .... When a human being becomes a set of data on a Web site like Facebook, he or she is reduced. Everything shrinks. Individual character. Friendships. Language. Sensibili.. | Zadie Smith | ||
| bb6211b | Novels are what I know, and the novel door in my personality is always open. | novels personality reading | Zadie Smith | |
| 81e2bd2 | And so if we want to see real change in this world, she continued, adjusting the incline on her running machine until I, who walked on a neighboring one, seemed to be watching her dash up the side of Kilimanjaro, well, then we ourselves have to be the ones to do it, yes, we have to be the change we want to see. By "we" she meant people like herself, of financial means and global reach, who happen to love freedom and equality, want justice, .. | Zadie Smith | ||
| 59fe39e | Without the balancing setting of everyday life all you have is the news, and news by its nature is generally bad. | Zadie Smith | ||
| ad3ffd9 | Libraries are not failing "because they are libraries." Neglected libraries get neglected, and this cycle, in time, provides the excuse to close them. Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay." | Zadie Smith | ||
| 82d9206 | all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.' | Louise Fitzhugh | ||
| 016be27 | I had | Louise Fitzhugh | ||
| 94cb861 | Lord, cat. Announce yourself next time. I don't have no nine lives. | Libba Bray | ||
| e559a7f | Yeah, well, who but the mad would choose to keep on living? In the end, aren't we all just a little crazy? | Libba Bray | ||
| 4aecc72 | Nobody wants to be themselves. That's why there's TV. So you know what to want and who to be. | Libba Bray | ||
| 2dab4f3 | Every mornin', every evenin', ain't we got fun? | Libba Bray | ||
| b410985 | Ohmigosh. No food at all." Tiara sank down on the sand as if the full weight of their predicament had finally hit her. She blinked back tears. And then that megawatt smile that belonged on cereal boxes across the nation reappeared. "I am going to be so superskinny by pageant time!" | Libba Bray | ||
| 2dbb44b | Whatever is without question is most vulnerable. | Libba Bray | ||
| f3cd2ed | Miss Teen Dreamers. It is time to get ahold of ourselves. Miss Alabama, I did not mean that literally. That is gross. Stop it." Taylor" | Libba Bray | ||
| b2fbed9 | And afterward, in the small cabin, they'd do this, this tangle of bodies, this blurring of the edges that kept people distant and lonely. | Libba Bray | ||
| da7b4d3 | maybe it's a Midwestern thing, but where I'm from, you're not supposed to brag about yourself. That's what my mom says. She says you should wait for people to recognize your good qualities. And then you should say, like, 'Oh, no. I'm not really that great at whatever-it-is. I'm just okay.' And then they'll say, 'No, really. You're great.' And you say, 'I'm really not, but thanks anyway for saying so.' And they'll say, 'Yes, you are. You so .. | Libba Bray | ||
| f3f29df | The Diviners must stand, or all shall fall. | Libba Bray | ||
| 8b2acce | Crepuscular | Libba Bray | ||
| feeb0c9 | What place lay beyond the reach of evil? | Libba Bray | ||
| 291016c | There's a lot of foot stomping, clapping, and cheering. I just want to win some cash and find my yard gnome. It's not a lot to ask. | Libba Bray | ||
| 21674f6 | It is the scorpion's nature to sting. Just because he has no opportunity doesn't mean that he cannot. | Libba Bray | ||
| 3f91bf6 | However, it has come to our attention that there is a small safety "glitch" with the Git R Done 447, which might cause it to fire too soon or even randomly, accidentally killing someone you love. Awkward, we know." | Libba Bray | ||
| 6b2a282 | This is what they have in place of freedom--time and gossip. Their lives are small and careful. I do not wish to live this way. I should like to make my mark. To venture opinions that may not be polite or even correct but are mine nonetheless. | Libba Bray | ||
| f72d3b3 | You can't blame a fella for kissing the prettiest girl in New York, can you, sister?" Sam's grin was anything but apologetic. Evie brought up her knee quickly and decisively, and he dropped to the floor like a grain sack. "You can't blame a girl for her quick reflexes now, can you, pal?" | Libba Bray | ||
| 4b03bd9 | People will believe anything it it means they can go on with their lives and not have to think too hard about it. | Libba Bray | ||
| c76394e | But as he listened to the moans and cries of those around him, he understood that hope was not a concept of faith meant to bring man closer to God but one of denial and delusion meant to keep him from accepting that God did not exist. | hope | Libba Bray | |
| 099ca03 | Miss Ohio flailed with excitement. "Makeovers are so fun! It's like the Superman phone booth of girl." Adina sat up. "It's denigrating and objectifying." "No. It's eye shadow and lipstick and sex and mystery and magic and transformation and fun. And nobody's taking that away from me." | Libba Bray | ||
| a6af133 | It seemed odd to Sosie that she had to make some hard-and-fast decision about such an arbitrary, individual thing as attraction, like having to declare an orientation major: I am straight with a minor in gay. | Libba Bray | ||
| 7965f2e | She wears her grief like a coat of feathers too heavy for flight. | Libba Bray | ||
| 4fb3dad | Any good world would allow for us to have free will, yes?" he continued. "Can we agree to this point? But once human beings have free will, they also have the ability to make choices - and commit evil. Thus, this very good thing, free will, allows the possibility of evil into our fine world." | free-will | Libba Bray | |
| 21cfe7d | Haven't you been hurt?" Miss Lillian asked. Theta thought of Roy's fists. Mrs. Bowers's cold cruelty. Even the first wound of abandonment. "Yes." "And here you still are. No. The question is this: Haven't you been hurt enough?" | theta-knight | Libba Bray | |
| c50952a | Beliefs converge and become something new all the time. | new-thought | Libba Bray | |
| 5c06e63 | In her fantasy, she imagined surrendering to a dominating Jericho. She'd liked it as a fantasy. There was something wild and hedonistic about the idea of allowing herself to be taken over by a big, strong, handsome man, as if she had no say in the matter and so no responsibility for making love with him: Why, it just happened! What could I do? I was helpless! But in reality, it hadn't been that way. It had been confusing and utterly frighte.. | Libba Bray |