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Joanna Jackson

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“[T]he price you've paid is not the price of becoming human. It's not even the price of having the things you just mentioned. It's the price of enacting a story that casts mankind as the enemy of the world.”
― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

tags: civilization, philosophy

21 likes

“[I]n Africa I was a member of a family—of a sort of family that the people of your culture haven't known for thousands of years. If gorillas were capable of such an expression, they would tell you that their family is like a hand, of which they are the fingers. They are fully aware of being a family but are very little aware of being individuals. Here in the zoo there were other gorillas—but there was no family. Five severed fingers do not make a hand.”
― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

tags: civilization, community, family, philosophy

33 likes

“[N]ow we have a clearer idea what this story is all about: The world was made for man, and man was made to rule it.”
― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

tags: civilization, exploitation, philosophy

12 likes

“This is why I read novels: so I can escape my own unrelenting monologue.”
― Carol Shields, Unless

103 likes

“There's nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will ACT like lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.”
― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

tags: civilization, exploitation, philosophy

145 likes

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Joanna’s Groups

Becoming Leidah — 8 members — last activity Sep 25, 2021 06:34PM
Does it make sense to create a Goodreads group dedicated to one book? I created a Goodreads' "Discussion Topic", but users can only give one answer be ...more

Around the World in 80 Books — 30949 members — last activity 15 hours, 0 min ago
Reading takes you places. Where in the world will your next book take you? If you love world literature, translated works, travel writing, or explorin ...more

Witches vs. Patriarchy — 1212 members — last activity Oct 30, 2025 11:28AM
Book Club Group for the r/witchesvspatriarchy subreddit. Please add any books related to the general topics of witches, paganism, feminism, etc. with ...more

Goodreads Authors/Readers — 55964 members — last activity 1 hour, 22 min ago
This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websit ...more

Oprah's Book Club (Official) — 85557 members — last activity 10 hours, 54 min ago
Welcome to the official Oprah's Book Club group. OBC is the interactive, multi-platform reading club bringing passionate readers together to discuss i ...more

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