“The conservatives are fools: They whine about the decay of traditional values, yet they enthusiastically support technological progress and economic growth. Apparently it never occurs to them that you can't make rapid, drastic changes in the technology and the economy of a society without causing rapid changes in all other aspects of the society as well, and that such rapid changes inevitably break down traditional values.”
― Industrial Society and Its Future
― Industrial Society and Its Future
“Paradoxically, the ability to be alone is the condition for the ability to love.”
― The Art of Loving
― The Art of Loving
“Abel wanted a traditional marriage with a traditional wife. For a long time I wondered why he ever married a woman like my mom in the first place, as she was the opposite of that in every way. If he wanted a woman to bow to him, there were plenty of girls back in Tzaneen being raised solely for that purpose. The way my mother always explained it, the traditional man wants a woman to be subservient, but he never falls in love with subservient women. He’s attracted to independent women. “He’s like an exotic bird collector,” she said. “He only wants a woman who is free because his dream is to put her in a cage.”
― Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
― Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
“The statistical method shows the facts in the light of the ideal average but does not give us a picture of their empirical reality. While reflecting an indisputable aspect of reality, it can falsify the actual truth in a most misleading way. This is particularly true of theories which are based on statistics. The distinctive thing about real facts, however, is their individuality. Not to put too fine a point on it, once could say that the real picture consists of nothing but exceptions to the rule, and that, in consequence, absolute reality has predominantly the character of irregularity.”
― The Undiscovered Self
― The Undiscovered Self
“The pathetic superstition prevails that by knowing more and more facts one arrives at knowledge of reality. Hundreds of scattered and unrelated facts are dumped into the heads of students; their time and energy are taken up by learning more and more facts so that there is little left for thinking. To be sure, thinking without a knowledge of facts remains empty and fictitious; but “information” alone can be just as much of an obstacle to thinking as the lack of it.”
― Escape from Freedom
― Escape from Freedom
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Abby’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Abby’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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![おやすみプンプン 1 [Oyasumi Punpun 1] by Inio Asano おやすみプンプン 1 [Oyasumi Punpun 1] by Inio Asano](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1452436525l/2043575._SX50_.jpg)














