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John
https://www.goodreads.com/catcherintherye
“I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.”
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“At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman.”
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“If one wanted to depict the whole thing graphically, every episode, with its climax, would require a three-dimensional, or, rather, no model: every experience is unrepeatable. What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space.”
― If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
― If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
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“TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
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What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
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The History Book Club
— 26529 members
— last activity Sep 17, 2026 05:10AM
"Interested in history - then you have found the right group". The History Book Club is the largest history and nonfiction group on Goodread ...more
Philosophy
— 5966 members
— last activity Aug 09, 2026 08:32PM
What is Philosophy? Why is it important? How do you use it? This group looks at these questions and others: ethics, government, economics, skepticism, ...more
John’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at John’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
1,000 books
|
85 friends
283 books
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180 friends
453 books
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100 friends
248 books
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1,979 friends
740 books
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176 friends
130 books
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652 friends
246 books
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79 friends
351 books
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43 friends
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