Here is my point. Why do we make these cosmetic type of goals? Instead of wanting to lose twenty pounds, why don’t we just make our goal health and only health?
“After I made it my business to find out how much money people have been squandering on these frivolous and insanely ostentatious fireworks displays we’ve seen in every corner of Istanbul every night this summer, I had to ask myself if the people celebrating at those weddings might not have been happier—bearing in mind that we are now a city of ten million people—if the money had been spent on educating the children of the poor. Am I right or wrong [1997]? Especially”
― Istanbul
― Istanbul
“Whenever I think of these writers together, I am reminded that what gives a city its special character is not just its topography or its buildings but rather the sum total of every chance encounter, every memory, letter, color, and image jostling in its inhabitants’ crowded memories after they have been living, like me, on the same streets for fifty years.”
― Istanbul
― Istanbul
“the hüzün the boy has carried with him since birth will lead the story into melodrama.”
― Istanbul: Memories and the City
― Istanbul: Memories and the City
“To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers. When I say, therefore, that Mycroft has better powers of observation than I, you may take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth.”
― Sherlock Holmes: The Ultimate Collection
― Sherlock Holmes: The Ultimate Collection
“After becoming engaged to my grandfather, and before marrying him, she did something rather brave in Istanbul in 1917—she went out with him to a restaurant.”
― Istanbul: Memories and the City
― Istanbul: Memories and the City
Michael’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Michael’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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