#kindle

For Leopardi, unhappy hedonist that he was, what is unknown is always more attractive than what is known; hope and imagination are the only consolations for the disappointments and sorrows of experience. Man therefore projects his desire into infinity and feels pleasure only when he is able to imagine that this pleasure has no end. ↗

— Italo Calvino

#experience

Death was like an unpleasant neighbor. You didn’t talk about him for fear he might hear you and decide to pay a visit. ↗

— Patrick Rothfuss

#death

It’s my belief that animals can help a human being travel to the wounds of childhood. The best part is, once you go there, you can fix things. Get on with life. ↗

— Jo-Ann Mapson

#life

People who work in offices are crazy, they create an environment they hate, write rules they want to break, cast each other in roles they despise. It’s like they’re sixth formers in an end of term drama acting out the agony of everything they fear most in their life but they forget to end the play. ↗

— Helen Smith

#life

little children never get frozen by their selfishness. Like the disciples, they come just as they are, totally self-absorbed. They seldom get it right. As parents or friends, we know all that. In fact, we are delighted (most of the time!) to find out what is on their little hearts. We don’t scold them for being self-absorbed or fearful. That is just who they are. ↗

— Paul Miller

#life

Doing, in a life of balance, should be driven from who you have decided to be. ↗

— Patrick Rhone

#life

joking and laughing as they headed off to their new life ↗

— Markee Anderson

#life

Living like an empty shell is not really living, no matter how many years it may go on. The heart and flesh of an empty shell give birth to nothing more than the life of an empty shell. ↗

— Haruki Murakami

#life

A man’s life was five dogs long, Cortland believed. The first was the one that taught you. The second was the one you taught. The third and fourth were the ones you worked. The last was the one that outlived you. That was the winter dog. Cortland’s winter dog had no name. He thought of it only as the scarecrow dog… ↗

— Stephen King

#life

However, you cannot force smokers to stop, and although all smokers secretly want to, until they are ready to do so a pact just creates additional pressure, which increases their desire to smoke. This turns them into secret smokers, which further increases the feeling of dependency. ↗

— Allen Carr

#life