But there is a third mode of trancendence: in it language simply ceases, and the motion of spirit gives no further outward manifestation of its being. The poet enters into silence. Here the word borders not on radiance or music, but on night. — George Steiner, from “Silence and the Poet,” Language and Silence: Essays… Continue reading George Steiner
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and… Continue reading Franklin D. Roosevelt
Anyway, what is survival when the calamity survives along with you? To survive all alone is the worst kind of survival. — Dunya Mikhail, The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq (New Directions, 2018)
Love is the burning point of life, and since all life is sorrowful, so is love. The stronger the love, the more the pain. Love itself is pain, you might say -the pain of being truly alive. ― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth. Published by Anchor (June 1, 1991)
According to the capabilities of the reader, books have their own destiny. — Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy. (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, December 14, 2017)
Insomnia […] is not just a state of sleeplessness, a matter of negatives. It involves the active pursuit of sleep. It is a state of longing. — Marina Benjamin, Insomnia. (Catapult, November 13, 2018)
Our lives pass from us like the wind, and why Should wise men grieve to know that they must die? The Judas blossom fades, the lovely face Of light is dimmed, and darkness takes its place. ― Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings. (Penguin Classics; Deluxe edition February 27, 2007)
I like trains. I like their rhythm, and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, all anxieties of purpose taken care of: for this moment I know where I am going. ― Anna Funder, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, (Harper Perennial; Reprint edition September 20, 2011)
I felt a calmness birds can bring to people; and, quieted, I sensed here the outlines of the oldest mysteries: the nature and extent of space, the fall of light from the heavens, the pooling of time in the present, as if it were water. – Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams. (Peter Smith Pub Inc, January… Continue reading Barry Lopez
Actuality is when the lighthouse is dark between flashes: it is the instant between the ticks of the watch…the pause when nothing is happening. It is the void between events. Yet the instant of actuality is all we ever can know directly. — George Kubler, The Shape of Time. (Yale University Press; Seventh Printing edition,… Continue reading George Kubler
