“History has no course. It thrashes and staggers, swivels and twists, but never heads one way for long. Humans who get caught up in it try to give it destinations. But we all pull in different directions, heading for different targets, and tend to cancel each other's influence out. When trends last for a short spell, we sometimes ascribe them to "men of destiny" or "history makers", or to great movements -- collectively heroic or myopic - or to immense, impersonal forces or laws of social development or economic change: class struggle, for instance, or "progress" or "development" or some other form of History with a capital H. But usually some undetectably random event is responsible for initiating big change. History is a system reminiscent of the weather: the flap of a butterfly's wings can stir up a storm.”
― 1492: The Year the World Began
― 1492: The Year the World Began
“You needn't be afraid of life! Life is so good when you do something that is good and just.”
― The Brothers Karamazov
― The Brothers Karamazov
“The human mind is an incredible thing. It can conceive of the magnificence of the heavens and the intricacies of the basic components of matter. Yet for each mind to achieve its full potential, it needs a spark. The spark of enquiry and wonder.”
― Brief Answers to the Big Questions
― Brief Answers to the Big Questions
“Learning to fly is not pretty but flying is.”
― Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone
― Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone
“We had a hard life but we didn't know it...We had power....it's a power of transformation you have, when you're stuffed full of fear and eagerness - not a thing in your life can escape being momentous. A power you never think of losing because you never know you have it.”
― Friend of My Youth
― Friend of My Youth
Ravish’s 2025 Year in Books
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