“The strength of a love is always misjudged if we evaluate it by its immediate cause and not the stress that went before it, the dark and hollow space full of disappointment and loneliness that precedes all the great events in the heart's history.”
― The Burning Secret and other stories
― The Burning Secret and other stories
“The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.”
― Einstein’s Dreams
― Einstein’s Dreams
“Solitude is indeed dangerous for a working intelligence. We need to have around us people who think and speak. When we are alone for a long time we people the void with phantoms”
― Le Horla et autres contes fantastiques
― Le Horla et autres contes fantastiques
“Lonely people tend, rather, to be lonely because they decline to bear the psychic costs of being around other humans. They are allergic to people. People affect them too strongly.”
― A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments
― A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments
“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.”
― The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
I do not think that they will sing to me.”
― The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Skinner’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Skinner’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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