15 books
—
12 voters
Cordelia Becker
https://www.goodreads.com/roazbear
The Cave
by
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
― Self-Reliance: An Excerpt from Collected Essays, First Series
― Self-Reliance: An Excerpt from Collected Essays, First Series
“The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau.”
― Bureaucracy
― Bureaucracy
“Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.”
― The Wind in the Willows
― The Wind in the Willows
“One man's imagined community is another man's political prison.”
― Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger
― Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger
“If I listen to some utterly perfect performance of an utterly perfect piece while I'm driving, I might want to close my eyes and die right then and there. But listening to the D major, I can feel the limits of what humans are capable of - that a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect. And personally, I feel that encouraging. Do you know what I'm getting at?”
― Kafka on the Shore
― Kafka on the Shore
The 1700-1939 Book Club!
— 607 members
— last activity Nov 28, 2025 06:50PM
This group is for books written from 1700-1939*. I created this group because there are so many exciting and classic books written during this time. T ...more
Cordelia’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Cordelia’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Cordelia
Lists liked by Cordelia































