That world was bland and featureless, but at least it was safe and predictable.
“Why do I have so many thoughts, they are driving me crazy. Why am I always going anywhere, instead of somewhere? Listen to me or not, it hardly matters. I’m not trying to be wise, that would be foolish. I’m just chattering.”
― Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
― Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
“When I try to picture for myself what a happy life might look like, the picture hasn’t changed very much since I was a child—a house with flowers and trees around it, and a river nearby, and a room full of books, and someone there to love me, that’s all.”
― Beautiful World, Where Are You
― Beautiful World, Where Are You
“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.”
― Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
― Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
“Of course I’m a fraud. The fact that I’m able to carry myself through life without being crushed beneath the psychological weight of being alive proves that I’m a con artist. Aren’t we all con artists?”
― Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead
― Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead
“I keep encountering this person, who is myself, and I hate her with all my energy. I hate her ways of expressing herself, I hate her appearance, and I hate her opinions about everything.”
― Beautiful World, Where Are You
― Beautiful World, Where Are You
carrie’s 2025 Year in Books
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