#introduction

Why else do we read fiction, anyway? Not to be impressed by somebody's dazzling language - or at least I hope that's not our reason. I think that most of us read these stories that we know are not 'true' because we're hungry for another kind of truth: The mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all: our own self-story. ↗

— Orson Scott Card

#life

So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation which, in the midst of civilization, artificially creates a hell on earth, and complicates with human fatality a destiny that is divine; so long as the three problems of the century - the degradation of man by the exploitation of his labour, the ruin of women by starvation and the atrophy of childhood by physical and spiritual night are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words and from a still broader point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, there should be a need for books such as this. ↗

— Victor Hugo

#les-miserables #preface #law

My name is Herondale," the boy said cheerfully. "William Herondale, but everyone calls me Will. Is this really your room? Not very nice, is it?" He wandered toward the window, pausing to examine the stacks of books on her bedside table, and then the bed itself. He waved a hand at the ropes. "Do you often sleep tied to the bed? ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#sleep

A Catholic is raised with the idea that he will die any minute now and if he doesn't live his life in a certain way, this death is an introduction to an eternity of pain. ↗

— Don DeLillo

#catholic #certain #certain way #death #die

My first introduction to chemistry came at a quite early age through my mother's elder brother. ↗

— Geoffrey Wilkinson

#brother #came #chemistry #early #early age

The introduction of religious passion into politics is the end of honest politics, and the introduction of politics into religion is the prostitution of true religion. ↗

— Lord Hailsham

#honest #into #introduction #passion #politics

But with the Industrial Revolution and introduction of various industrial techniques for purifying sugar, we have a situation in which what we are consuming is not good nutritionally or ecologically. ↗

— Marvin Harris

#good #industrial #industrial revolution #introduction #nutritionally

Plus, I was a math and science whiz from my first introduction to the subjects. ↗

— David Crane

#i #introduction #math #plus #science

For, usually and fitly, the presence of an introduction is held to imply that there is something of consequence and importance to be introduced. ↗

— Arthur Machen

#held #imply #importance #introduced #introduction

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. ↗

— Niccolo Machiavelli

#difficult #hand #introduction #lead #more