In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality. It is as final as the mountains: a fact. There it is. When you realize it you cannot complain.
― William S. Burroughs, Queer. (Viking Press November 1985)
James Baldwin — The Vale of Soul-Making
So what can we really do for each other except—just love each other and be each other’s witness? And haven’t we got the right to hope—for more? So that we can really stretch into whoever we really are? Don’t you think so?
—James Baldwin, Another Country (Dial Press, 1962)
Allen Ginsberg — The Vale of Soul-Making
I don’t do anything with my life except romanticize and decay with indecision.
— Allen Ginsberg, The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems: 1937-1952. (Da Capo Press; 1st Da Capo Press Ed edition November 1, 2006)
In Memory: “Even aimless journeys have a purpose.” — Art of Quotation
“Even aimless journeys have a purpose.” Tony Horwitz, 1959-2019, author, journalist, Pultizer Prize winner, quote from “One for the Road“
via In Memory: “Even aimless journeys have a purpose.” — Art of Quotation
James Baldwin — The Vale of Soul-Making
Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison […]
“Magic comes through you – you don’t own it” — Art of Quotation
“Magic comes through you – you don’t own it”
– Robby Krieger, guitarist, songwriter: Light My Fire (The Doors)
via “Magic comes through you – you don’t own it” — Art of Quotation
Ernest Hemingway — The Vale of Soul-Making
I want nothing. I just want the emptiness to mean something.
— Ernest Hemingway, The Complete Short Stories (Scribner, 1987)
Do not compare, do not measure.
“Do not compare, do not measure. No other way is like yours. All other ways deceive and tempt you. You must fulfill the way that is in you.”
– Carl Jung, author, psychiatrist
William Faulkner — The Vale of Soul-Making
[A]nd I realized then the unmitigable chasm between all life and all print–that those who can, do, those who cannot and suffer enough because they can’t, write about it.
— William Faulkner, The Unvanquished (Random House, 1938)
Bertrand Russell — The Vale of Soul-Making
The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
— Bertrand Russell
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