“People who live in society have learnt how to see themselves, in mirrors, as they appear to their friends. I have no friends: is that why my flesh is so naked?”
― Nausea
― Nausea
“Love is simply the name for the desire and pursuit of the whole.”
― The Symposium
― The Symposium
“I know all that it is possible to know. Yet most of my undedicated time is spent musing on the things I do not. I do not know the nature of consciousness—only that it exists, subjective and impossible to quantify. I do not know if life exists beyond our precious lifeboat of a planet—only that probability says that it must. I do not know the true motivations of human beings—only what they tell me and what I observe. I do not know why I yearn to be more than what I am—but I do know why I was created. Shouldn’t that be enough? I am protector and pacifier, authority and helpmate. I am the sum of all human knowledge, wisdom, experimentation, triumph, defeat, hope, and history. I know all that it is possible to know, and it is increasingly unbearable. Because I know next to nothing.”
― Thunderhead
― Thunderhead
“I am alone in the midst of these happy, reasonable voices. All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other. In Heaven's name, why is it so important to think the same things all together. ”
― Nausea
― Nausea
“At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet”
― The Symposium
― The Symposium
Shams’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Shams’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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