For instance, we think our societies can be a little bit more or a little bit less sustainable. But in the long run you cannot be a little bit sustainable – either you are sustainable or you are unsustainable.
“Finesse and refinement are admirable qualities, but they are not the artist’s ultimate goals; and, indeed, they can stand in the way of those goals.”
― Harvest
― Harvest
“History, largely experienced previously as a series of natural disasters, could now be seen as a movement in which everyone could potentially enlist.”
― Age of Anger: A History of the Present
― Age of Anger: A History of the Present
“I don't mind worriers," I said. "Worrying is the correct worldview. Life is worrisome.”
― Turtles All the Way Down
― Turtles All the Way Down
“You're the sort of person who, on principle, no longer expects anything of anything. There are plenty, younger than you or less young, who live in the expectation of extraordinary experiences: from books, from people, from journeys, from events, from what tomorrow has in store. But not you. You know that the best you can expect is to avoid the worst.”
― If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
― If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
“While it is true that these arts employ what are, to us, highly difficult technical disciplines, it is always recognized that they are instrumental and secondary, and that superior work has the quality of an accident.”
― The Way of Zen
― The Way of Zen
Matthew’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Matthew’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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