“Nothing stands still, except in our memory.”
― Tom's Midnight Garden
― Tom's Midnight Garden
“Perhaps the rare and simple pleasure of being seen for what one is compensates for the misery of being it.”
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“TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
―
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
―
“I am not who you think I am; I am not who I think I am; I am who I think you think I am ”
― Inscriptions
― Inscriptions
The 'OU'pen Book
— 48 members
— last activity Oct 11, 2024 11:49PM
An online book club for Open University Students. A space to debate the books we want to add to the nominations list. And where we can discuss the boo ...more
Lucy’s 2025 Year in Books
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