“People are wrong when they think that an unemployed man only worries about losing his wages; on the contrary, an illiterate man, with the work habit in his bones, needs work even more than he needs money. An educated man can put up with enforced idleness, which is one of the worst evils of poverty. But a man like Paddy, with no means of filling up time, is as miserable out of work as a dog on the chain. That is why it is such nonsense to pretend that those who have 'come down in the world' are to be pitied above all others.
The man who really merits pity is the man who has been down from the start,
and faces poverty with a blank, resourceless mind.”
― Down and Out in Paris and London
The man who really merits pity is the man who has been down from the start,
and faces poverty with a blank, resourceless mind.”
― Down and Out in Paris and London
“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”
―
―
“Why couldn't I accept what was happening without trying to explain it, without bringing up ideas of order and disorder, of freedom, as one sets out geranium pots in a courtyard on the Calle Cochabamba? Maybe on had to fall into the depths of stupidity in order to make the key fit the lock to the latrine or to the Garden of Olives.”
― Hopscotch
― Hopscotch
“I promise to always turn back toward you.”
― Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
― Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
“One likes to think there's something in it, that old platitude amor vincit omnia. But if I've learned one thing in my short sad life, it is that that particular platitude is a lie. Love doesn't conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.”
― The Secret History
― The Secret History
Lennie’s 2024 Year in Books
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