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“A writer, or any man, must believe that whatever happens to him is an instrument; everything has been given for an end. This is even stronger in the case of the artist. Everything that happens, including humiliations, embarrassments, misfortunes, all has been given like clay, like material for one’s art. One must accept it. For this reason I speak in a poem of the ancient food of heroes: humiliation, unhappiness, discord. Those things are given to us to transform, so that we may make from the miserable circumstances of our lives things that are eternal, or aspire to be so.”
― Selected Non-Fictions
― Selected Non-Fictions
“To read great books does not mean one becomes ‘bookish’; it means that something of the terrible insight of Dostoyevsky, of the richly-charged imagination of Shakespeare, of the luminous wisdom of Goethe, actually passes into the personality of the reader; so that in contact with the chaos of ordinary life certain free and flowing outlines emerge, like the forms of some classic picture, endowing both people and things with a grandeur beyond what is visible to the superficial glance.”
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“Let us simmer over our incalculable cauldron, our enthralling confusion, our hotchpotch of impulses, our perpetual miracle - for the soul throws up wonders every second. Movement and change are the essence of our being; rigidity is death; conformity is death; let us say what comes into our heads, repeat ourselves, contradict ourselves, fling out the wildest nonsense, and follow the most fantastic fancies without caring what the world does or thinks or says. For nothing matters except life.”
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“The next suitable person you’re in light conversation with, you stop suddenly in the middle of the conversation and look at the person closely and say, “What’s wrong?” You say it in a concerned way. He’ll say, “What do you mean?” You say, “Something’s wrong. I can tell. What is it?” And he’ll look stunned and say, “How did you know?” He doesn’t realize something’s always wrong, with everybody. Often more than one thing. He doesn’t know everybody’s always going around all the time with something wrong and believing they’re exerting great willpower and control to keep other people, for whom they think nothing’s ever wrong, from seeing it. This is the way of people. Suddenly ask what’s wrong and whether they open up and spill their guts or deny it and pretend you’re off, they’ll think you’re perceptive and understanding. They’ll either be grateful, or they’ll be frightened and avoid you from then on. Both reactions have their uses, as we’ll get to. You can play it either way. This works over 90 percent of the time.”
― The Pale King
― The Pale King
The Kindred Spirits
— 300 members
— last activity Sep 23, 2025 07:28AM
Place to meet and talk about anything.
2015: The Year of Reading Women
— 673 members
— last activity Apr 01, 2020 04:01AM
Join us for a year of member-run group reads to make 2015 the year of reading women! Rules Members are free to create author threads by surname if th ...more
Classical music lovers
— 584 members
— last activity Dec 03, 2025 01:54AM
Our fast-growing classical music group is sometimes erudite - and maybe a little eccentric - but we aim never to be exclusive. Classical music is a g ...more
Dalkey Archive Devotees
— 74 members
— last activity Aug 27, 2018 08:18AM
for fans of Flann, S.B., and the best there is in publishing today
Theatre Books and Plays
— 1520 members
— last activity Apr 04, 2026 08:08PM
A room for lovers of theatre, theater books, texts on acting, directing, theory and scripts.
Erik F.’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Erik F.’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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