“It is a painful thing to say to oneself: by choosing one road I am turning my back on a thousand others. Everything is interesting; everything might be useful; everything attracts and charms a noble mind; but death is before us; mind and matter make their demands; willy-nilly we must submit and rest content as to things that time and wisdom deny us, with a glance of sympathy which is another act of our homage to the truth.”
― The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods
― The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods
“To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability, and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language).”
― 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
― 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.”
― The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle
― The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle
“When you have something to say, silence is a lie.”
― 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
― 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Indeed — why should I not admit it? — in that moment, my heart was breaking.”
― The Remains of the Day
― The Remains of the Day
Ethan’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Ethan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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