“In the end, people don't view their life as merely the average of all its moments—which, after all, is mostly nothing much plus some sleep. For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story. A story has a sense of a whole, and its arc is determined by the significant moments, the ones where something happens. Measurements of people's minute-by-minute levels of pleasure and pain miss this fundamental aspect of human existence. A seemingly happy life maybe empty. A seemingly difficult life may be devoted to a great cause. We have purposes larger than ourselves.”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
“Courage is strength in the face of knowledge of what is to be feared or hoped. Wisdom is prudent strength.”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
“I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.”
― Flowers for Algernon
― Flowers for Algernon
“Life is choices, and they are relentless. No sooner have you made one choice than another is upon you.”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
“In fact, he argued, human beings need loyalty. It does not necessarily produce happiness, and can even be painful, but we all require devotion to something more than ourselves for our lives to be endurable. Without it, we have only our desires to guide us, and they are fleeting, capricious, and insatiable. They provide, ultimately, only torment.”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
arun’s 2024 Year in Books
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