“It doesn’t matter if you mess up, choose the wrong road, flop in Vegas. What’s important is to throw yourself in head first, to “go for the gusto.” And if you blow it, you blow it. What we have to worry about now is success. Once you’re successful, it becomes embarrassing to make mistakes, and more difficult to grab onto the nearest straw and hold on. You can always be a star, so what’s the rush?”
― In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin
― In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin
“The sea: you watch it for a while, lose interest, and then, because there is nothing else to look at, go back to watching it. It fills you with great thoughts which, leading nowhere and having nothing to focus on except the unfocused mass of the sea, dissolve into a vacancy which in turn, for want of any other defining characteristic, you feel content to term 'awe'.”
― Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling With D.H. Lawrence
― Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling With D.H. Lawrence
“The sea-shore is a sort of neutral ground, a most advantageous point from which to contemplate this world.”
― Cape Cod
― Cape Cod
“The real difficulty is having enough faith in humanity to believe that someone will care,” she said.”
― In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin
― In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin
“The last captain called to sea again
Sails intrepid forward
The waves they rock
But he cares not
He need only follow the stars
Looking down at that compass
Would just lead him astray
His great old vessel
Done in by monsters, maelstroms,
Tidal waves
Foundering toward lost Atlantis
But by ancient stars
Burning oh so bright
And sails high and strong
He’ll catch the gale
That will take him there
Out where he belongs
Not a distant shore
But heaven’s door
One with the sublime
Another bright light
In the starry night
Shining with
True greatness”
― In Limbo
Sails intrepid forward
The waves they rock
But he cares not
He need only follow the stars
Looking down at that compass
Would just lead him astray
His great old vessel
Done in by monsters, maelstroms,
Tidal waves
Foundering toward lost Atlantis
But by ancient stars
Burning oh so bright
And sails high and strong
He’ll catch the gale
That will take him there
Out where he belongs
Not a distant shore
But heaven’s door
One with the sublime
Another bright light
In the starry night
Shining with
True greatness”
― In Limbo
Ailene’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Ailene’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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