If you tell a beautiful woman that she is beautiful, what have you given her? It’s no more than a fact and it has cost you nothing. But if you tell an ugly woman that she is beautiful, you offer her the great homage of corrupting the concept of beauty. To love a woman for… Continue reading Ayn Rand
But you see, the measure of hell you’re able to endure is the measure of your love. ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. (Berkley; Reprint edition August 1, 1999) Originally published 1957.
We are wholly alonein the evening gloom.And my fingers are warmlike the lost days of June. — Joseph Brodsky, from “Evening,” Joseph Brodsky: Selected Poems, trans. George L. Kline (Harper & Row, 1973)
I have braved, for want of wild beasts, steel cages,carved my term and nickname on bunks and rafters,lived by the sea, flashed aces in an oasis,dined with the-devil-knows-whom, in tails, on truffles. — Joseph Brodsky, from “May 24, 1980,” Collected Poems in English. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Reprint edition April 1, 2002)
Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a person’s sexual choice is the result and sum of their fundamental convictions. Tell me what a person finds sexually attractive and I will tell you their entire philosophy of life. Show me the person… Continue reading Ayn Rand
This poet’s vacant skull’s consumed by splendor of his own vanity, where light and metaphors collide with his emotional void. — Alexander Shaumyan, “Shooting the Cosmic Breeze,” Survivor. (Instantpublisher.com 2006)
‘Believe your pain.’ This awful bear hug is no mistake. Nothing that disturbs you is. Remember all along that there is no embrace in this world that won’t finally unclasp. – Joseph Brodsky, On Grief and Reason: Essays. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Edition Unstated edition, April 10, 1997) Originally published 1995.
If you’re born in a cubicle and grow up in a corridor, and work in a cell, and vacation in a crowded sun-room, then coming up into the open with nothing but sky over you might just give you a nervous breakdown. — Isaac Asimov, Foundation. (Spectra; Reissue edition, June 1, 2004) Originally published 1951.
I Sit By The Window I said fate plays a game without a score, and who needs fish if you’ve got caviar? The triumph of the Gothic style would come to pass and turn you on–no need for coke, or grass. I sit by the window. Outside, an aspen. When I loved, I loved deeply.… Continue reading Joseph Brodsky
…and love, as an act, lacks a verb. ― Joseph Brodsky, from “I Sit By The Window,” Collected Poems in English. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Reprint edition April 1, 2002)
The Vale of Soul-Making 