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“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
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“The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.”
― Lyrical Ballads
― Lyrical Ballads
“One of the greatest myths in the world - & the phrase 'greatest myths' is just a fancy way of saying 'big fat lies' -- is that troublesome things get less & less troublesome if you do them more & more. People say this myth when they are teaching children to ride bicycles, for instance, as though falling off a bicycle & skinning your knee is less troublesome the fourteenth time you do it than it is the first time. The truth is that troublesome things tend to remain troublesome no matter how many times you do them, & that you should avoid doing them unless they are absolutely urgent.”
― The Ersatz Elevator
― The Ersatz Elevator
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”
― Time Enough for Love
― Time Enough for Love
La Strega’s 2025 Year in Books
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