"My aim here is mainly to set up a contrast between the narcissistic tendencies of technology and the problem of actual love. My friend Alice Sebold likes to talk about “getting down in the pit and loving somebody.” She has in mind the dirt that love inevitably splatters on the mirror of our self-regard."

— From a Franzen op-ed.

9:03 am  •  30 May 2011
Filed Under: quote jonathan franzen ny times alice sebold

"Seeing the Avett Brothers in 2010 has to be a little like what seeing Springsteen was like in the late 70s, early 80s. They’re that good. As I revere Springsteen, I grappled with the audacity of that statement and have tried since then to walk back, at least in my head. After last night, forget about it. They’re that good."

—

- Live review from the Oregonian.

Good thing I will be seeing them 3 times in 2010 (not to mention ‘08/’09)! 

5:02 pm  •  31 August 2010  •  3 notes
Filed Under: Bruce Springsteen the boss the avett brothers quote quotes oregonian music live music reviews

"Reading your blog bumps up my cool 200%."

— David Cho. Hdot: Tumblr driven, Cho approved.

11:07 am  •  6 May 2010
Filed Under: blog quote david cho

“Born in Birmingham, Ala., Percy was orphaned as a teen and was raised and influenced by his father’s cousin, William Percy, a literary socialite. While he enjoyed writing in his youth and while he was able to mingle with the likes of Carl Sandberg and Langston Hughes, “in the South, you didn’t set out to become a writer,” said Percy in a 1980 interview.

Percy received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina in 1937 and a medical degree from Columbia University in 1941. Percy began his career by practicing pathology. His medical practice was cut short, however, after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to an asylum. While in seclusion, Percy studied the writings and philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Jean-Paul Sartre, Gabriel Marcel, and others, which inspired him to resume writing and influenced his conversion to Catholicism.”

- Loyola New Orleans News

9:27 pm  •  10 March 2010
Filed Under: birmingham alabama quote writing writers walker percy loyola new orleans new orleans

"Throughout his writing career, Percy was an advocate for young, struggling writers. In 1976 while teaching at Loyola, Percy was approached by the mother of a young, local writer who had committed suicide after failing to find a publisher for his manuscript. Percy saw promise in the piece and used his influence to reintroduce it to publishers. As a result, “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole was published in 1980 and was awarded a Pulitzer-Prize posthumously in 1981."

— Loyola New Orleans News. I didn’t know.

9:19 pm  •  10 March 2010
Filed Under: Walker Percy john kennedy toole writers writing quote loyola new orleans loyola

"To the extent it has degenerated into a political pep rally, I’m not sure why we’re there."

— John Roberts, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, calling the atmosphere at January’s State of the Union address “troubling” during an appearance at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Preach, preacher.

8:21 pm  •  10 March 2010
Filed Under: justice john roberts supreme court alabama university of alabama quote law state of the union

"I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime."

— Roger Ebert. Pretty amazing interview on Oprah’s pre-Oscar show if you missed it.

1:36 pm  •  3 March 2010
Filed Under: quote quotes roger ebert kindness happiness

"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion."

— Abraham Lincoln

12:44 pm  •  27 February 2010
Filed Under: quote quotes abraham lincoln could a candidate ever get away with saying this these days? religion

"

Our sentence may be caught in the sweet grey matter of another’s head; our sweet pink matter may grasp a finger and hold it tight and squelchy as a toddler’s fist. Still, we are alone.

But the beauty is that this futility doesn’t stop us. We may be restrained by our own humanity, and in the prisons of our own flesh, but we reach out, and we reach out, and we are reached, and we touch in language and in flesh and if we’re very, very lucky, in both, and occasionally we meet in bright hot white-pink seismic flashes and we feel blessed indeed.

You speak my language. You get me, and as I lie under you, around you, writhing like Joycean syntax below you, we get each other, briefly, painfully and sweetly.

"

— Chelsea G. Summers

9:56 am  •  10 January 2010  •  1 note
Filed Under: writing quote chelsea g summers

"Why do we Tumbl? In the end, we use Tumblr not because it’s a great way to connect with our readers (though it is that), or because we believe this or something like it is a part of a new way forward for interaction between publishers and audience (though we think that too). We use Tumblr because it’s fun and while, you know, you can’t eat fun, or trade it in for fistfuls of dollars to fund serious journalism, we believe there’s a value in doing things we like simply because we like to do them, and that hopefully our fellow Tumblrs will too."

— Newsweek: Why We Tumbl (via meaghano) (via kari-shma) (via quote-book)

7:09 pm  •  24 November 2009  •  780 notes
Filed Under: newsweek article quote tumblr

"I’m going to try speaking some reckless words, and I want you to try to listen recklessly."

— Chuang Tzu, (Tr. Burton Watson)

10:45 pm  •  17 November 2009
Filed Under: chuang tzu burton watson quote listening recklessly

"First thought is best in Art, second in other matters."

— William Blake

10:42 pm  •  17 November 2009
Filed Under: quote william blake poets art

"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."

— e. e. cummings

9:36 pm  •  17 November 2009
Filed Under: e. e. cummings quote human spirit poets poetry

"It’s like Einstein and Galileo high-fiving after defeating Sauron."

— MFR on the Lady Gaga/Beyonce collabo, Telephone.

8:44 pm  •  17 November 2009
Filed Under: music quote einstein galileo sauron mfr minnesota fucking rocks telephone lady gaga beyonce

"We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say — and to feel — Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought."

— John Steinbeck

9:37 pm  •  3 November 2009  •  54 notes
Filed Under: quote quotes john steinbeck writing writers storytellers story