THE PAST IN THE PRESENT
Virginia Woolf:
The past only comes back when the present runs so smoothly that it is like the sliding surface of a deep river.
SMELLS OF THE PAST
While bicycling along the Charles this past week, I smelled cigar smoke. The smell brought a smile to my face – or at least to my mind.
Read moreTHE COMPANIONSHIP IN READING
May Sarton:
I am drawn to people, for I am one myself, for whom literature is a passion, deep rather than wide readers, who discover the great works as Marc had discovered #Proust, feel themselves companioned by certain writers throughout a lifetime, follow every clue about the invention of characters in their books, one might almost say lead double lives.
THE BENEFITS OF LUCK
George Sarton:
Every creature needs luck, and he is very ungrateful who ascribes his success to his merit and naught else.
LIVING IN THE CURRENT CRISIS
I have no doubt that we’re living in a crisis, on the cusp of watching the (physical, economic, political, cultural) world as we know it fall apart.
Read moreCRISES, PAST AND PRESENT
Annie Dillard:
We have no chance of being here when the sun burns out. There must be something heroic about our time, something that lifts it above all those other times.