“Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn't necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust.... and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.”
― Letters to a Young Poet
― Letters to a Young Poet
“Having once embarked on your marital voyage, it is impossible not to be aware that you make no way and that the sea is not within sight—that, in fact, you are exploring an enclosed basin.”
― Middlemarch
― Middlemarch
“The message that was winging its way to the sun said, Come here! I will help you conquer this world. Our civilization is no longer capable of solving its own problems. We need your force to intervene.”
― The Three-Body Problem
― The Three-Body Problem
“They were black, and made of cheap cotton. One of them was XXXXL. “A vest with words on?” said Buddy. “‘The Band With Rocks In,’” Cliff read, slowly. “Hey, dat’s us, isn’t it?” “What do we want these for?” said Glod. “We know who we are.” “Advertising,” said Dibbler. “Trust me.”
― Soul Music
― Soul Music
“Wilderness is gone. Forest has succumbed to chemically sustained silviculture. Four billion years of evolution, and that’s where the matter will end. Politically, practically, emotionally, intellectually: Humans are all that count, the final word. You cannot shut down human hunger. You cannot even slow it. Just holding steady costs more than the race can afford.”
― The Overstory
― The Overstory
Mick’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Mick’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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