“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
― Walden or, Life in the Woods
― Walden or, Life in the Woods
“Ze zal onbeduidende herinneringen hebben en scherpe, zoals deze. Zoals foto’s waarop niet bijzonders staat en waarvan je niet weet waarom of wanneer ze genomen zijn, maar al die jaren later van veel groter belang blijken te zijn dan al die albums vol foto’s van verjaardagen en huwelijken”
― Sofia si veste sempre di nero
― Sofia si veste sempre di nero
“Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope.”
― Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
― Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
“-’Tell me’, he said, ‘who gives better offerings, a miserable man or a happy one’?
-’A happy one, of course.’
-’Wrong. A happy man is too occupied with his life. He thinks he is beholden to no one. But make him shiver, kill his wife, cripple his child, then you will hear from him. He will starve his family for a month to buy yo a pure-white yearling calf. If he can afford it, he will buy you a hundred’.
-’But surely, I said, you have to reward him eventually. Otherwise he will stop offering’.
-’Oh, you would be surprised how long he will go on. But yes, in the end, it’s best to give him something. Then he will be happy again. And you can start over.”
― Circe
-’A happy one, of course.’
-’Wrong. A happy man is too occupied with his life. He thinks he is beholden to no one. But make him shiver, kill his wife, cripple his child, then you will hear from him. He will starve his family for a month to buy yo a pure-white yearling calf. If he can afford it, he will buy you a hundred’.
-’But surely, I said, you have to reward him eventually. Otherwise he will stop offering’.
-’Oh, you would be surprised how long he will go on. But yes, in the end, it’s best to give him something. Then he will be happy again. And you can start over.”
― Circe
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
― The Bell Jar
― The Bell Jar
Sietse’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Sietse’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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