Premature abstraction is as bad as premature optimization.
“for there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.”
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
“There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself? That is why life is always like a sketch. No, "sketch" is not quite a word, because a sketch is an outline of something, the groundwork for a picture, whereas the sketch that is our life is a sketch for nothing, an outline with no picture.”
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
― Civilization and Its Discontents
― Civilization and Its Discontents
“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”
― Crime and Punishment
― Crime and Punishment
Vladimir’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Vladimir’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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