The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads by Maria Popova

Einstein on Free Will and the Power of the Imagination
Einstein on Free Will and the Power of the Imagination

“Human being, vegetables or cosmic dust, we all dance to an invisible tune, intoned in the distance by a mysterious player.”

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The Balancing Monsters of Love: Leonard Cohen on What Makes a Saint
The Balancing Monsters of Love: Leonard Cohen on What Makes a Saint

On loving the world enough to surrender to the laws of gravity and chance.

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Bertrand Russell on the Secret of Happiness
Bertrand Russell on the Secret of Happiness

“Let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.”

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Saying the Ineffable: Poetry and the Language of Silence
Saying the Ineffable: Poetry and the Language of Silence

“The survival of poetry depends on the failure of language.”

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If You Fail at Love
If You Fail at Love

Consolation for our learned brokenness on the path to healing.

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Dostoyevsky on Animal Rights and the Deepest Meaning of Human Love
Dostoyevsky on Animal Rights and the Deepest Meaning of Human Love

“Treasure this ecstasy, however absurd people may think it.”

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Bear: A Soulful Illustrated Meditation on Life with and Liberation from Depression
Bear: A Soulful Illustrated Meditation on Life with and Liberation from Depression

Inside the silent scream of life.

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The Poetry of Science: A Victorian Portal to Wonder
The Poetry of Science: A Victorian Portal to Wonder

“Truth cannot die; it passes from mind to mind, imparting light in its progress, and constantly renewing its own brightness during its diffusion. The True is the Beautiful; and the truths revealed to the mind render us capable of perceiving new beauties on the earth.”

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User-Friendly Self-Deception: Philosopher Amélie Rorty on the Value of Our Delusions and the Antidote to the Self-Defeating Ones
User-Friendly Self-Deception: Philosopher Amélie Rorty on the Value of Our Delusions and the Antidote to the Self-Defeating Ones

“The question is: how can we sustain the illusions essential to ordinary life, without becoming self-damaging idiots?”

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Meditation in Sunlight: May Sarton’s Stunning Poem About the Relationship Between Presence, Solitude, and Love
Meditation in Sunlight: May Sarton’s Stunning Poem About the Relationship Between Presence, Solitude, and Love

“…and joy instead of will.”

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