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32,007 books
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121,471 voters
“Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn't exist in any declaration I have ever read.
If you are offended it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people.
I can walk into a bookshop and point out a number of books that I find very unattractive in what they say. But it doesn't occur to me to burn the bookshop down. If you don't like a book, read another book. If you start reading a book and you decide you don't like it, nobody is telling you to finish it.
To read a 600-page novel and then say that it has deeply offended you: well, you have done a lot of work to be offended.”
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If you are offended it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people.
I can walk into a bookshop and point out a number of books that I find very unattractive in what they say. But it doesn't occur to me to burn the bookshop down. If you don't like a book, read another book. If you start reading a book and you decide you don't like it, nobody is telling you to finish it.
To read a 600-page novel and then say that it has deeply offended you: well, you have done a lot of work to be offended.”
―
“Work like you don't need the money. Dance like no one is watching. And love like you've never been hurt.”
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“…zag jij misschien dat ik naar jou,
dat ik je zag en dat ik zag hoe jij
naar mij te kijken zoals ik naar jou
en dat ik hoe dat heet zo steels,
zo en passant en ook zo zijdelings -
dat ik je net zo lang bekeek tot ik
naar je staarde en dat ik staren bleef.
Ik zag je toen en ik wist in te zien
dat in mijn leven zoveel is gezien
zonder dat ik het ooit eerder zag:
dat kijken zoveel liefs vermag.”
―
dat ik je zag en dat ik zag hoe jij
naar mij te kijken zoals ik naar jou
en dat ik hoe dat heet zo steels,
zo en passant en ook zo zijdelings -
dat ik je net zo lang bekeek tot ik
naar je staarde en dat ik staren bleef.
Ik zag je toen en ik wist in te zien
dat in mijn leven zoveel is gezien
zonder dat ik het ooit eerder zag:
dat kijken zoveel liefs vermag.”
―
“It is difficult to see how Gandhi's methods could be applied in a country where opponents of the regime disappear in the middle of the night and are never heard of again. Without a free press and the right of assembly, it is impossible not merely to appeal to outside opinion, but to bring a mass movement into being, or even to make your intentions known to your adversary. Is there a Gandhi in Russia at this moment? And if there is, what is he accomplishing?”
―
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“In other words, that the discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble, what is pure, and what is true could always go on. Why is that important? Why would I like to do that? Because that’s the only conversation worth having. And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don’t know. But, I do know that it is the conversation I want to have while I am still alive. Which means that to me the offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can’t give way is an offer of something not worth having. I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don’t know anything like enough yet… that I haven’t understood enough… that I can’t know enough… that I am always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom. I wouldn’t have it any other way. And I’d urge you to look at those who tell you, those people who tell you at your age, that you are dead until you believe as they do. What a terrible thing to be telling to children. …and that you can only live by accepting an absolute authority. Don’t think of that as a gift. Think of it as a poisoned chalice. Push it aside however tempting it is. Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.”
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Stefan’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Stefan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
481 books
|
54 friends
304 books
|
14 friends
2,627 books
|
13 friends
237 books
|
18 friends
489 books
|
1,082 friends
51 books
|
593 friends
296 books
|
114 friends
239 books
|
35 friends
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