Whatcha readin?

    There is no essence of the self, lying like a vein of gold under the chaos of experiences and chemistry. Everything is fluid, and we must understand the human organism as a succession of self-conditions that replace or choose each other.

Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon. Originally in English, but I'm reading in a German translation, so I translated it back. I should find the text in English.

veen:

WHOO another good use for my newfangled notes system!

——

Recently noted and good:

“Perfectionism may look good in his shiny shoes but he’s a little bit of an asshole and no one invites him to their pool parties.” - Ze Frank

“Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go.’ “ - Lisa St Aubin de Téran

“The best way to overcome it [the fear of death]—so at least it seems to me—is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.

An individual human existence should be like a river: small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.

The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.” - Betrand Russel

——

Less recent, but great:

“Just because you’re winning a game doesn’t mean it’s a good game.” - Seth Godin

“Only live with what you've done, and try in the future to only do what you're happy to live with. That's the whole game, soak, that's all there is." - Carl Marsalis In Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan

“The more polarized an issue gets, the more its consequences become secondary to the desire to have your camp win.” - Lilliana Mason

“Civilizations die from suicide, not from murder.” - Toynbee


posted 2162 days ago