

“If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
― Kafka on the Shore
― Kafka on the Shore

“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.”
― East of Eden
― East of Eden

“I'll never know, and neither will you, of the life you don't choose. We'll only know that whatever that sister life was, it was important and beautiful and not ours. It was the ghost ship that didn't carry us. There's nothing to do but salute it from the shore.”
― Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
― Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
“Dan: Thats what I love about music.
Gretta: What?
Dan: One of the most banal scenes
is suddenly invested...
with so much meaning.
All these banalities.
Theyre suddenly turned into these...
these beautiful, effervescent pearls.
From music.”
―
Gretta: What?
Dan: One of the most banal scenes
is suddenly invested...
with so much meaning.
All these banalities.
Theyre suddenly turned into these...
these beautiful, effervescent pearls.
From music.”
―

“Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased. I remember a man in Salinas who in his middle years traveled to Honolulu and back, and that journey continued for the rest of his life. We could watch him in his rocking chair on his front porch, his eyes squinted, half-closed, endlessly traveling to Honolulu.”
― Travels with Charley: In Search of America
― Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Shirley’s 2022 Year in Books
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