“...and to forget one's own sharp absurd little personality, reputation and the rest of it, one should read; see outsiders; think more; write more logically; above all be full of work; and practise anonymity. Silence in company; or the quietest statement, not the showiest; is also "medicated" as the doctors say. It was an empty party, rather, last night. Very nice here, though.”
― A Writer's Diary
― A Writer's Diary
“A photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence. Like a wood fire in a room, photographs—especially those of people, of distant landscapes and faraway cities, of the vanished past—are incitements to reverie. The sense of the unattainable that can be evoked by photographs feeds directly into the erotic
feelings of those for whom desirability is enhanced by distance.”
― On Photography
feelings of those for whom desirability is enhanced by distance.”
― On Photography
“Perhaps then one reason why we have no great poet, novelist or critic writing today is that we refuse to allow words their liberty. We pin them down to one meaning, their useful meaning: the meaning which makes us catch the train, the meaning which makes us pass the examination.”
― The Death of the Moth and Other Essays
― The Death of the Moth and Other Essays
“What is past is not dead; it is not even past. We cut ourselves off from it; we pretend to be strangers.”
― Patterns of Childhood
― Patterns of Childhood
“F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “The test of first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposite ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
― Quantum Creativity: Think Quantum, Be Creative
― Quantum Creativity: Think Quantum, Be Creative
Esterch’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Esterch’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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