“It is the phenomenon somethings called "alienation from self." In its advanced stages, we no longer answer the telephone, because someone might want something; that we could say no without drowning in self-reproach is an idea alien to this game. Every encounter demands too much, tears the nerves, drains the will, and the specter of something as small as an unanswered letter arouses such disproportionate guilt that answering it becomes out of the question. To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, the singular power of self-respect. Without it, one eventually discovers the final turn of the screw: one runs away to find oneself, and finds no one at home.”
― Slouching Towards Bethlehem
― Slouching Towards Bethlehem
“And never have I felt so deeply
at one and the same time so detached from myself and so present in the world.”
―
at one and the same time so detached from myself and so present in the world.”
―
“Your very eyes. How they have always been for me the command to obey, the inviolable and beautiful commandment. No, no, I'm not telling lies. Your appearance in the doorway!
...
You have been my body's health. Whenever I have read a book, it was you I was reading, not the book, you were the book. You were, you were.”
― Jakob von Gunten
...
You have been my body's health. Whenever I have read a book, it was you I was reading, not the book, you were the book. You were, you were.”
― Jakob von Gunten
“We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.”
― Slouching Towards Bethlehem
― Slouching Towards Bethlehem
window’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at window’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by window
Lists liked by window




































