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“The difference between treason and patriotism is only a matter of dates.”
― The Count of Monte Cristo
― The Count of Monte Cristo
“If you look at your average contemporary person, the potential for tragedy is immense. The people and things we love and value are strewn across the globe. Any number of health disasters can befall you or them.
The truth is depressing. We are going to die, most likely after illness; all our friends will likewise die; we are tiny insignificant dots on a tiny planet. Perhaps with the advent of broad intelligence and foresight comes the need for confabulation and self-deception to keep depression and its consequent lethargy at bay. There needs to be a basic denial of our finitude and insignificance in the larger scene. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah just to get out of bed in the morning.”
― Brain Fiction: Self-Deception and the Riddle of Confabulation
The truth is depressing. We are going to die, most likely after illness; all our friends will likewise die; we are tiny insignificant dots on a tiny planet. Perhaps with the advent of broad intelligence and foresight comes the need for confabulation and self-deception to keep depression and its consequent lethargy at bay. There needs to be a basic denial of our finitude and insignificance in the larger scene. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah just to get out of bed in the morning.”
― Brain Fiction: Self-Deception and the Riddle of Confabulation
“I'd woken up early, and I took a long time getting ready to exist.”
― The Book of Disquiet
― The Book of Disquiet
“In this moment, the noblest trade is mastering the art of leisure.”
― Harassment Architecture
― Harassment Architecture
“Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say "I think," "I am," but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less. Its nature is satisfied, and it satisfies nature, in all moments alike. But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time.”
― Self-Reliance and Other Essays
― Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Dalia’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Dalia’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
1,673 books
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611 friends
3,224 books
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4,982 friends
401 books
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104 friends
19 books
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123 friends
337 books
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159 friends
138 books
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157 friends
357 books
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1,980 friends
281 books
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219 friends
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Favorite Genres
Art, Biography, Business, Classics, History, Memoir, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion
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