Cayte

“Long books, when read, are usually overpraised, because the reader wishes to convince others and himself that he has not wasted his time.”
― E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel

“Most things are forgotten over time. Even the war itself, the life-and-death struggle people went through is now like something from the distant past. We’re so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past are no longer in orbit around our minds. There are just too many things we have to think about everyday, too many new things we have to learn. But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away. They remain with us forever, like a touchstone.”
― haruki murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“...nor do I want to suggest that the Amish are perfect people or that their way of life is perfect. What I want to recommend are some Amish principles:
1) They have preserved their families and communities.
2) They have maintained the practices of neighbourhood.
3) They have maintained the domestic arts of kitchen and garden, household and homestead.
4) They have limited their use of technology so as not to displace or alienate available human labour or available free source of power (the sun, wind, water, and so on).
5) They have their farms to a scale that is compatible both with the practice of neighborhood and with the optimum use of low-power technology.
6) By the practices and limits already mentioned, they have limited their costs.
7) They have educated their children to live at home and serve their communities.
8) They esteem farming as both a practical art and a spiritual discipline.

These principles define a world to be lived by human beings, not a world to be exploited by managers, stockholders, and experts.”
― Wendell Berry, Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food

“Then she lay on her back and gazed at the cloudless sky. Mr. Beebe, whose opinion of her rose daily, whispered to his niece that that was the proper way to behave if any little thing went wrong.”
― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View