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Steven is Currently Reading

Steven is currently reading

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

by Edward Gibbon

bookshelves: currently-reading

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progress:

(page 150 of 1312)
"One chapter a day.

Skipped ahead in my reading queue, it seemed... timely." — Jan 27, 2026 06:20PM

Jan 27, 2026 06:20PM

Steven’s Quotes

“The Master said, Only when the year grows cold do we see that the pine and the cypress are the last to fade.”
― Confucius

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“Before the army's watering hole has
been reached, the commander does not speak of thirst; before the fires
have food on them, the commander does not speak of hunger.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

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“There are roadways not to be traveled, armies not to be attacked, walled cities not to be assaulted,
territory not to be contested, and commands from the ruler not to be obeyed.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

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“Tzu-lu asked how one should serve ghosts and spirits. The Master said, Till you have learned to serve men, how can you serve ghosts? Tzu-lu then ventured upon a question about the dead. The Master said, Till you know about the living, how are you to know about the dead?”
― Confucius, The Analects

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“Second post-historical corollary: Common Exchange is mystical exchange. The unit of measure--that is, the capacity of anything to be translated into anything else, equivalence (only the elect are equal), reciprocity-- these are esoteric notions, and post-history makes them become the only immediate reality, since it is on them that it bases the circulation of commodities and on such circulation that it models every other exchange.”
― Roberto Calasso, The Forty-Nine Steps

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More of Steven’s quotes…