“When they asked some old Roman philosopher or other how he wanted to die, he said he would open his veins in a warm bath. I thought it would be easy, lying in the tub and seeing the redness flower from my wrists, flush after flush through the clear water, till I sank to sleep under a surface gaudy of poppies.
But when it came right down to it, the sink of my wrist looked so white and defenseless that I couldn't do it. It was as if what I wanted to kill wasn't in that skin or the thin blue pulse that jumped under my thumb, but somewhere else, deeper, more secret, and a whole lot harder to get at.”
― The Bell Jar
But when it came right down to it, the sink of my wrist looked so white and defenseless that I couldn't do it. It was as if what I wanted to kill wasn't in that skin or the thin blue pulse that jumped under my thumb, but somewhere else, deeper, more secret, and a whole lot harder to get at.”
― The Bell Jar
“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.”
― The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
I do not think that they will sing to me.”
― The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
“I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.”
―
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.”
―
“We cannot tear out a single page of our life, but we can throw the whole book in the fire.”
― Mauprat
― Mauprat
“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains ... an unuprooted small corner of evil.
Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.”
― The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.”
― The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
Eileen’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Eileen’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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