The Book Quotes

“To breathe is to live, but to write unimpeded is to breathe eternal.”
― M. Clifford, The Book

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
― M. Clifford, The Book

“You don’t have to believe the truth for it to be right.”
― M. Clifford, The Book

“they’re thinking and all. It really is. I kept trying not to yawn. It wasn’t that I was bored or anything – I wasn’t – but I was so damn sleepy all of a sudden. “Something else an academic education will do for you. If you go along with it any considerable distance, it’ll begin to give you an idea what size mind you have. What it’ll fit and, maybe, what it won’t. After a while, you’ll have an idea what kind of thoughts your particular size mind should be wearing. For one thing, it may save you an extraordinary amount of time trying on ideas that don’t suit you, aren’t becoming to you. You’ll begin to know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly.” Then, all of a sudden, I yawned. What a rude bastard, but I couldn’t help it! Mr. Antolini just laughed, though. “C’mon, Holden,” he said, and got up. “We’ll fix up the couch for you.” I followed him and he went over to this closet and tried to take down some sheets and blankets and stuff that was on the top shelf, but he couldn’t do it with this highball glass in his hand. So he drank it and then put the glass down on the floor and then he took the stuff down. I helped him bring it over to the couch. We both made the bed together. He wasn’t too hot at it. He didn’t tuck anything in very tight. I didn’t care, though. I could’ve slept standing up I was so tired. “How’re all your women?” “They’re okay.” I was being a lousy conversationalist, but I didn’t feel like it.”
― M. Clifford, The Book