“Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work; a future. To be courageous is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending vulnerabilities of those consequences.”
― Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words
― Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words
“Considered phenomenologically—that is, as we actually experience and live it—the body is a creative, shape-shifting entity. Certainly, it has its finite character and style, its unique textures and temperaments that distinguish it from other bodies; yet these mortal limits in no way close me off from the things around me or render my relations to them wholly predictable and determinate. On the contrary, my finite bodily presence alone is what enables me to freely engage the things around me, to choose to affiliate with certain persons or places, to insinuate myself in other lives. Far from restricting my access to things and to the world, the body is my very means of entering into relation with all things.”
― The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
― The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
“All nature is waiting for us to become conscious because there's a particular quality of consciousness that only humans can provide. Nature needs that consciousness; cries out for it. And the process of deciphering Nature's need, then discovering how to respond to it, is what's called learning to become human.”
― A Book of Life
― A Book of Life
“Never forget to make a wish, Malte. You should never give up wishing. I believe there is no such thing as fulfillment, but there are wishes, and they go on lasting, your whole lifetime, so that you couldn’t wait long enough for them to be fulfilled even if you wanted to.”
― The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
― The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
“Beginnings are always ripe with possibilities, for they hold the promise of completion. Through love we imagine a new way of being. You see me as I’ve never seen myself. You airbrush my imperfections, and I like what you see. With you, and through you, I will become that which I long to be. I will become whole. Being chosen by the one you chose is one of the glories of falling in love. It generates a feeling of intense personal importance. I matter. You confirm my significance.”
― Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic
― Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic
Joanna’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Joanna’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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