I Read Therefore I Am discussion

Seen any good one-line quotes lately? One sentence quotes from any source (please provide). Thought provoking, interesting facts, amusing, outstanding prose, ...

They learn to sense that all existence is embraced by a spiritual presence; that life is not a property of the self; that the world is an open house in which the presence of the owner is so well concealed that we usually mistake His discretion for nonexistence.

Abraham Eschel, Man is not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion

And yet they spoke and yet they laughed; and even the most maimed wreck of them all held, like a pennant in that drifting light, some frayed remnant of laughter from unfrayed years.

Nelson Algren, The Man with the Golden Arm

I like this idea - but my brain, being called upon to act,has very disobligingly emptied itself of all quotes good or bad.
As soon as I remember or come across one - I shall return.

Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.

Jerome K Jerome, Three Men in a Boat

Outstanding selection! It is never my aim while reading, nor my purpose by any means, but over the past few years I have developed the habit of highlighting such passages. It is so easy and unmessy with digital highlights, and all of them are indexed together automatically. Now it is like finding little nuggets of gold along the path.

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all of the miseries of life

W Somerset Maughan

And after and for a long time to come he'd have reason to evoke the recollection of those smiles and to reflect upon the good will which provoked them for it had power to protect and to confer honor and to strengthen resolve and it had power to heal men and to bring them to safety long after all other resources were exhausted.

Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

I like Cormac McCarthy and I have this as part of a trilogy I think waiting on my TBR shelves. If I'm not getting confused, and he did also write The Road, there are some beautiful sentences in there too.

Yes, it' the first of a trilogy, The Border is the second and I liked both of those. Didn't care for The Road as much. Cities of the Plain ( third in the Borders trilogy) and No Country for Old Men are on my TBR, No Country came highly recommended to me and I know I liked the movie, so am looking forward to reading it.

Oops! The Crossing is the second volume of the Borders trilogy. I think.

It was his view rather that every act soon eluded the grasp of its propagator to be swept away in a clamorous tide of unforeseen consequence.

Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing

Found No Country for Old Men on my works book swap shelf today - in view of both your recommendations (and cos I loved the film) I snapped it up :0)

It was realism that told Kelly he couldn't fix all the problems of the world; it was idealism that told him his inability to do so did not preclude him from addressing individual imperfections.

Tom Clancy, Without Remorse

Near this spot, are deposited the remains of one who possessed beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity,and all the virtues of man without his vices.

Lord Byron writing about his Newfoundland dog, Boatswain

I love that.

I shall not say why and how I became, at the age of fifteen, the mistress of the Earl of Craven. Whether it was love, or the severity of my father, the depravity of my own heart, or the winning arts of the noble lord, which induced me to leave my paternal roof and place myself under his protection, does not now much signify; or, if it does, I am not in the humour to gratify curiosity in this matter.

The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson Written by Herself
Harriet Wilson was a celebrated regency courtesan who decided to write her memoirs (she claimed) when former lovers went back on their promises to support her in her old age. One of these gentlemen was the Duke of Wellington who coined the phrase "publish, and be damned" - on being advised of her plans.

That's such a lovely quote from lord Byron, Hilary.

I never knew where the phrase "publish and be damned came from". Her memoirs sound interesting though, the original "kiss and tell" publication.

"A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away - the consciousness that we possess the sympathy of one being when all others have deserted us - is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow." the Pickwick papers

That's so true - thanks Antipodes and Dickens

The quote is from our most recent installment, chapter XXI, in 'The Old Man's Tale About the Queer Client', which I believe shows Dickens exercising his emerging genius and is a solid work of art in and of itself; masterful vision.

"The point of view that we can be without a point of view is a point of view."
Gary Zukav The Dancing Wu Li Masters

looking for Poem of the Day in my Journal, I came across this which made me laugh out loud the first time I read it.

"To have allowed the enemy to take the high ground above a position from which you had no guaranteed means of escape struck Charlie as, to say the least, unorthodox"

On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks

That IS funny! Unorthodox would definitely be near the bottom of the list of things to say...

What mysteries remain to be revealed in the nervous system, that web of structures both material and ethereal, that network of threads that runs throughout the body, composed of a thousand Ariadne's clues, all leading to the brain, that shadowy central den where the human bones lie scattered and the monsters lurk....
The angels also, he reminds himself. Also the angels.

[Author: Margaret Atwood] Alias Grace

Note: from kindle dictionary, Ariadne: Greek Mythology - the daughter of King Minos of Crete or Pasiphae. She helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur's labyrinth by giving him a ball of thread, which he unraveled as he went in and used to trace his way out again after killing the Minotaur.

Wonderful quote, marvellous writer.

Cannot wait to dig into Margaret Atwood this year!

"Where man meets the world, not with the tools he has made but with the soul with which he was born; not like a hunter who seeks his prey but like a lover to reciprocate love; where man and matter meet as miracles before the mystery, both made, maintained and destined to pass away, it is not an object, a thing that is given to his sense, but a state of fellowship that embraces him and all things; not a particular fact but the startling situation that there are facts at all; being; the presence of a universe; the unfolding of time.

Abraham Heschel Man is not Alone

"He was struck by the order, dullness, dumbness, suicidal tendencies, and pointlessness of midcentury America, the America of the empire, the America that was going to put its stamp on a century, the America with its arteries clogged with things, and its soul left at some pawnshop along the way in order to raise the cash for guns.

From an introduction by Charles Bowden, to:
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey

I read Sometimes a Great Notion about 40 years ago, and it has always been one of my all time favorites, but for some reason I had not read it again. Just downloaded a copy to see if I still feel that way. It had a tremendous impact on me back in the day.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

The Great Gatsby

I like that :0)

One from my current read, the fourth book in The Barbershop Seven series:

This man is a writer. As such he suffers from severe artistic temperament and is consequently unable to conduct himself appropriately in even the most basic of social situations, including this one. Please do not talk to him

This one really made me laugh - is the rest of the book as good?

The whole series is really great! Exciting twists all the way, you never quite know what will happen next. Really funny too. Definitely would recommend reading them :)

I like that, Toyah

Just downloaded the first one for 59p! Thanks Toyah
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Long-Midn...

Enjoy! :)

"The town is too small and he is too conspicuous, his position too precarious, the Governor's wife too pious, the enemies of Reform too ubiquitous."

Margaret Atwood in Alias Grace

I loved Alias Grace :)

Me too - one of my all time favourites

"His spelling was several degrees beyond arbitrary, and his punctuation brought reason to sigh with unhappiness."

Elizabeth Gilbert in The Signature of All Things

Ooh! Thinking of reading that soon - are you enjoying it?

Only 30 pages in, but yes, so far. It is well written with very good character portrayal. I have a digital download copy from my local library, so must work it in within the 14 days allotted. The story line is quite interesting, so the entire experience is quite good to this point.

"Rumors are a precious currency that burn holes in the pocket and are always, eventually, spent."

Elizabeth Gilbert in The Signature of All Things

"Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad."

George Orwell in 1984

I like that one :)

It's true. : )

"We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that in the end, we become disguised to ourselves."
- Francois de LA Rochefoucauld
Beginning of Chapter III.

Donna Tartt in The Goldfinch

I like that - very true