The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “philosophy”

Voltaire on the Art of Being Undefeated by Hardship
Voltaire on the Art of Being Undefeated by Hardship

“All comes out even at the end of the day, and all comes out still more even when all the days are over.”

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George Eliot on Form, Poetry, and How Art Reveals the Interrelated Parts of the Whole
George Eliot on Form, Poetry, and How Art Reveals the Interrelated Parts of the Whole

“Form, as an element of human experience, must begin with the perception of separateness.”

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Walt Whitman on Democracy and Optimism as a Mighty Form of Resistance
Walt Whitman on Democracy and Optimism as a Mighty Form of Resistance

“I can conceive of no better service… than boldly exposing the weakness, liabilities and infinite corruptions of democracy.”

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Iris Murdoch on Storytelling, Why Art Is Essential for Democracy, and the Key to Good Writing
Iris Murdoch on Storytelling, Why Art Is Essential for Democracy, and the Key to Good Writing

“A good society contains many different artists doing many different things. A bad society coerces artists because it knows that they can reveal all kinds of truths.”

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Kahlil Gibran on the Courage to Weather the Uncertainties of Love
Kahlil Gibran on the Courage to Weather the Uncertainties of Love

“Think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.”

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Bluets: Maggie Nelson on the Color Blue as a Lens on Memory, Loneliness, and the Paradoxes of Love
Bluets: Maggie Nelson on the Color Blue as a Lens on Memory, Loneliness, and the Paradoxes of Love

“To wish to forget how much you loved someone — and then, to actually forget — can feel, at times, like the slaughter of a beautiful bird who chose, by nothing short of grace, to make a habitat of your heart.”

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Tennessee Williams on Love and How the Very Thing Worth Saving Is the Thing That Will Save Us
Tennessee Williams on Love and How the Very Thing Worth Saving Is the Thing That Will Save Us

“We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.”

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Philosopher Martin Buber on Love and What It Means to Live in the Present
Philosopher Martin Buber on Love and What It Means to Live in the Present

“We live our lives inscrutably included within the streaming mutual life of the universe.”

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Oliver Sacks on Nature’s Beauty as a Gateway into Deep Time and a Lens on the Interconnectedness of the Universe
Oliver Sacks on Nature’s Beauty as a Gateway into Deep Time and a Lens on the Interconnectedness of the Universe

“The sense of deep time brings a deep peace with it, a detachment from the timescale, the urgencies, of daily life… a profound sense of being at home, a sort of companionship with the earth.”

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How to Change Your Mind: Michael Pollan on How the Science of Psychedelics Illuminates Consciousness, Mortality, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
How to Change Your Mind: Michael Pollan on How the Science of Psychedelics Illuminates Consciousness, Mortality, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

“The Beyond, whatever it consists of, might not be nearly as far away or inaccessible as we think.”

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