“It's a funny thing about the modern world. You hear girls in the toilets of clubs saying, "Yeah, he fucked off and left me. He didn't love me. He just couldn't deal with love. He was too fucked up to know how to love me." Now, how did that happen? What was it about this unlovable century that convinced us we were, despite everything, eminently lovable as a people, as a species? What made us think that anyone who fails to love us is damaged, lacking, malfunctioning in some way? And particularly if they replace us with a god, or a weeping madonna, or the face of Christ in a ciabatta roll---then we call them crazy. Deluded. Regressive. We are so convinced of the goodness of ourselves, and the goodness of our love, we cannot bear to believe that there might be something more worthy of love than us, more worthy of worship. Greeting cards routinely tell us everybody deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water. Not everybody deserves love all the time.”
― White Teeth
― White Teeth
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
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“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.”
― Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves
― Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves
“She hopes for nothing except fine weather and a resolution. She wants to end properly, like a good sentence. ”
― The Autograph Man
― The Autograph Man
“The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free.”
― On Beauty
― On Beauty
Colleen’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Colleen’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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