The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “henry miller”

Donald Hall on Growing Old and Our Cultural Attitude Toward the Elderly
Donald Hall on Growing Old and Our Cultural Attitude Toward the Elderly

“When kindness to the old is condescending, it is aware of itself as benignity while it asserts its power.”

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Patti Smith on the Two Kinds of Masterpieces and Her Fifty Favorite Books
Patti Smith on the Two Kinds of Masterpieces and Her Fifty Favorite Books

“Everything pours forth. Photographs their history. Books their words. Walls their sounds.”

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The Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior: Bertrand Russell’s Magnificent Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
The Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior: Bertrand Russell’s Magnificent Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

“Nothing in the world is more exciting than a moment of sudden discovery or invention, and many more people are capable of experiencing such moments than is sometimes thought.”

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August 25, 1944: Picasso, the Liberation of Paris, and the Meaning of Heroism
August 25, 1944: Picasso, the Liberation of Paris, and the Meaning of Heroism

“It’s easy to be a hero when you’re only risking your life.”

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Nobel Laureate André Gide on What It Really Means to Be Original and Goethe’s Paradoxical Model of Creativity
Nobel Laureate André Gide on What It Really Means to Be Original and Goethe’s Paradoxical Model of Creativity

“If one does not absorb everything, one loses oneself completely. The mind must be greater than the world and contain it…”

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Oliver Sacks on Gratitude, the Measure of Living, and the Dignity of Dying
Oliver Sacks on Gratitude, the Measure of Living, and the Dignity of Dying

“I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”

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The Art of Not-Having-to-Ask, from Buddhist Monks to Amanda Palmer by Way of Thoreau
The Art of Not-Having-to-Ask, from Buddhist Monks to Amanda Palmer by Way of Thoreau

How to unlearn everything our transactionalist culture has taught us about “the market” and relearn our natural open-handed generosity.

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Grace Paley on the Art of Growing Older
Grace Paley on the Art of Growing Older

“The main thing is this — when you get up in the morning you must take your heart in your two hands. You must do this every morning.”

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Louise Bourgeois on Art, Integrity, the Trap of False Humility, and the Key to Creative Confidence
Louise Bourgeois on Art, Integrity, the Trap of False Humility, and the Key to Creative Confidence

“To be an artist is a guarantee to your fellow humans that the wear and tear of living will not let you become a murderer.”

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Art and the Mind’s Eye: How Drawing Trains You to See the World More Clearly and to Live with a Deeper Sense of Presence
Art and the Mind’s Eye: How Drawing Trains You to See the World More Clearly and to Live with a Deeper Sense of Presence

A passionate case for learning “to search into the cause of beauty, and penetrate the minutest parts of loveliness.”

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