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“I can think of two very good reasons for not splitting an infinitive. 1. Because you feel that the rules of English ought to conform to the grammatical precepts of a language that died a thousand years ago. 2. Because you wish to cling to a pointless affectation of usage that is without the support of any recognized authority of the last 200 years, even at the cost of composing sentences that are ambiguous, inelegant, and patently contorted.”
― The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way
― The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way
“When I started riding a bike I realized there’s a real relationship between a body powering itself going down the street and the way you interact with your community,” Smith says. “The violence of the power of a car is an alienating device. It’s the last thing we need in our neighborhoods.”
― Having and Being Had
― Having and Being Had
“Ask a man what his greatest fear is about serving jail time, and he will almost inevitably say he fears being raped. What can we deduce from the fact that jail is to men what life is to so many women?”
― Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger
― Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger
“Libraries were a solace in the Depression. They were warm and dry and useful and free; they provided a place for people to be together in a desolate time. You could feel prosperous at the library. There was so much there, such an abundance, when everything else felt scant and ravaged, and you could take any of it home for free. Or you could just sit at a reading table and take it all in.”
― The Library Book
― The Library Book
“Consider the oft-quoted statement “the exception proves the rule.” Most people take this to mean that the exception confirms the rule, though when you ask them to explain the logic in that statement, they usually cannot. After all, how can an exception prove a rule? It can’t. The answer is that an earlier meaning of prove was to test (a meaning preserved in proving ground) and with that meaning the statement suddenly becomes sensible—the exception tests the rule.”
― The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way
― The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way
Millie’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Millie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
449 books
|
47 friends
5,342 books
|
42 friends
3,312 books
|
53 friends
134 books
|
62 friends
304 books
|
70 friends
237 books
|
25 friends
231 books
|
61 friends
228 books
|
51 friends
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