“Because it is dangerous to ignore the existence of the irrational. The more cultivated a person is, the more intelligent, the more repressed, then the more he needs some method of channeling the primitive impulses he's worked so hard to subdue. Otherwise those powerful old forces will mass and strengthen until they are violent enough to break free, more violent for the delay, often strong enough to sweep the will away entirely.”
― The Secret History
― The Secret History
“In the beginning I was so young and such a stranger to myself I hardly existed. I had to go out into the world and see it and hear it and react to it, before I knew at all who I was, what I was, what I wanted to be.”
― Upstream: Selected Essays
― Upstream: Selected Essays
“It is also November. The noons are more laconic and the sunsets sterner, and Gibraltar lights make the village foreign. November always seemed to me the Norway of the year. ------ is still with the sister who put her child in an ice nest last Monday forenoon. The redoubtable God! I notice where Death has been introduced, he frequently calls, making it desirable to forestall his advances.”
― Lettere 1845-1886
― Lettere 1845-1886
“For a long time, my hidden shame had made me push everyone away. I'd rejected them before they could reject me. I ran away from close relationships even with the people who loved me. I was a blind man fallen into the ocean.”
― Notes of a Crocodile
― Notes of a Crocodile
“Separation was the thing I'd been dreading the most these past few years, and I'd been in denial that it was a fact of life. Refusing to let go, I'd practically thrown a temper tantrum. What's worse, my attempts to avoid separation had only hastened it. It explained why I'd always been so quick to lash out at those I loved.”
― Notes of a Crocodile
― Notes of a Crocodile
#ClassicsCommunity 2021 Reading Challenge
— 2681 members
— last activity Aug 20, 2025 03:13PM
In 2021, I'm hosting a year-long readathon where I - and hopefully you! - will be reading as many classics as possible. The #ClassicsCommunity is an ...more
Maria’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Maria’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Art, Classics, Crime, Historical fiction, History, Horror, Music, Mystery, Philosophy, Poetry, Psychology, Science, Suspense, Thriller, and literature
Polls voted on by Maria
Lists liked by Maria









































