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“We must go for walks out of doors, so that the mind can be strengthened and invigorated by a clear sky and plenty of fresh air. At times it will acquire fresh energy from a journey by carriage and a change of scene, or from socializing and drinking freely. Occasionally we should even come to the point of intoxication, sinking into drink but not being totally flooded by it; for it does wash away cares, and stirs the mind to its depths, and heals sorrow just as it heals certain diseases.”
― On the Shortness of Life
― On the Shortness of Life
“The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”
― On the Shortness of Life
― On the Shortness of Life
“People are delighted to accept pensions and gratuities, for which they hire out their labour or their support or their services. But nobody works out the value of time: men use it lavishly as if it cost nothing. But if death threatens these same people, you will see them praying to their doctors; if they are in fear of capital punishment, you will see them prepared to spend their all to stay alive.”
― On the Shortness of Life
― On the Shortness of Life
“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”
― On the Shortness of Life
― On the Shortness of Life
“Can anything be more idiotic than certain people who boast of their foresight? They keep themselves officiously preoccupied in order to improve their lives; they spend their lives in organizing their lives. They direct their purposes with an eye to a distant future. But putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining?”
― On the Shortness of Life
― On the Shortness of Life
Literary Darkness
— 4848 members
— last activity Aug 28, 2026 12:39PM
This group is dedicated to an appreciation of important works of literature, both classic and contemporary... that happen to fall into the category of ...more
The Gothic Poets Society
— 401 members
— last activity Dec 31, 2024 07:03PM
Wits, Words & Spirits! Who Are We? We are a group of like minded individuals who haunt dark halls and cemeteries, armed with pens, books and black li ...more
Gothic Fiction Read-along 2018
— 98 members
— last activity Nov 13, 2020 06:56AM
**I no longer run these read alongs but do have a gothic fiction book club that you are welcome to join on Discord. We read and discuss a gothic ficti ...more
Women's Horror
— 8 members
— last activity May 10, 2019 09:57AM
A group whose interests involve horror fiction that centers around women protagonists.
CL’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at CL’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
696 books
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285 friends
733 books
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455 friends
547 books
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94 friends
909 books
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32 friends
1,266 books
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216 friends
727 books
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108 friends
1,015 books
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98 friends
196 books
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164 friends
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Favorite Genres
Adult Fiction, African American, Art, Book Club, Children's, Classics, Contemporary, Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Gay and Lesbian, Historical fiction, History, Horror, Humor and Comedy, Literary Fiction, Manga, Mystery, Non-fiction, Paranormal, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Romance, Science, Science fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Young-adult, War, short-stories, american, american-fiction, and gothic
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