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“...If he failed the first time he took his driver's licence test, it was mainly because he started an argument with the examiner in an ill-timed effort to prove that nothing could be more humiliating to a rational creature than being required to encourage the development of a base conditional reflex by stopping at a red light when there was not an earthly soul around, heeled or wheeled. He was more circumspect the next time, and passed...”
― Pnin
― Pnin
“How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?”
―
Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?”
―
“Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.”
― This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
― This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
“May blessings be upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was that invented books.”
―
―
“Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom.
–The Grand Inquisitor”
― The Brothers Karamazov
–The Grand Inquisitor”
― The Brothers Karamazov
The Importance of Reading Ernest
— 349 members
— last activity Jan 26, 2026 01:11AM
A book club for those who want to read and talk about Hemingway's work. We'll read a new novel or short story collection every month and talk about it ...more
Goodreads Developers
— 3057 members
— last activity Jul 02, 2026 03:31PM
Official group for developers on Goodreads to coordinate and build cool apps. For general Goodreads support, please visit our help page.
Marcus’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Marcus’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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