

“Society, as we have constituted it, will have no place for me, has none to offer; but Nature, whose sweet rains fall on unjust and just alike, will have clefts in the rocks where I may hide, and secret valleys in whose silence I may weep undisturbed. She will hang the night with stars so that I may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling, and send the wind over my footprints so that none may track me to my hurt: she will cleanse me in great waters, and with bitter herbs make me whole.”
― De Profundis
― De Profundis

“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, "Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”
― Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
― Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

“I would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices.”
― Emile, or On Education
― Emile, or On Education

“I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.”
― Flowers for Algernon
― Flowers for Algernon
Tumul’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Tumul’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Tumul
Lists liked by Tumul