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101 " Nothing is so essential as dignity. Time will reveal who has it and wi has it not." -Beatrix Whittaker "
― Elizabeth Gilbert , The Signature of All Things
102 " Dar aici este diferenta dintre mintile noastre, draga mea. Eu vreau sa ajung la revelatie purtat de aripi, in timp ce tu inaintezi statornic pe jos, cu lupa in mana. Eu sunt un ratacitor nestatornic, il caut pe Dumnezeu in contururile mari, caut o cale noua de cunoastere. Tu stai cu picioarele pe pamant si masori dovezile palma cu palma. Calea ta e mai rationala si mai metodica, dar eu nu pot sa mi-o schimb pe a mea. "
103 " Rest assured, dear friend, that many noteworthy and great sciences and arts have been discovered through the understanding and subtlety of women, both in cognitive speculation, demonstrated in writing, and in the arts, manifested in manual works of labor. I will give you plenty of examples. Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies 1405 "
104 " A sage Portuguese sailor who had told him, years before 'To be prosperous and happy in life, Henry, it is simple. Pick one woman, pick it well, and surrender. "
105 " What a stark and stunning thing was life—that such a cataclysm can enter and depart so quickly, and leave such wreckage behind! "
106 " Also, he detested people who bought fast horses that they were unskilled to ride. Furthermore, he detested: recreational sailing vessels; surveyors; cheaply made shoes; French (the language, the food, the populace); nervous clerks; tiny porcelain plates which broke in a man’s damned hand; poetry (but not songs!); the stooped backs of cowards; thieving sons of whores; a lying tongue; the sound of a violin; the army (any army); tulips (“onions with airs!”); blue jays; the drinking of coffee (“a damned, dirty Dutch habit!”); "
107 " Lastly, she knew one other thing, and this was the most important realization of all: she knew that the world was plainly divided into those who fought an unrelenting battle to live, and those who surrendered and died. This was a simple fact. This "
108 " incalculable failed experiments.” She wrote, “Those who are ill-prepared to endure the battle for survival should perhaps never have attempted living in the first place. The only unforgivable crime is to cut short the experiment of one’s own life before its natural end. To do so is a weakness and a pity—for the experiment of life will cut itself off soon enough, in all our cases, and one may just as well have the courage and the curiosity to stay in the battle until one’s eventual and inevitable demise. Anything less than a fight for endurance is "
109 " Sometimes beauty needs a bit of ignoring, to properly come into being. "
110 " She did not need a library; she was a library. "
111 " I cannot unshackle myself from argument, Ambrose. Recall that I am Henry Whittaker's daughter. I was born into argument. Argument was my first nursemaid. Argument is my lifelong bedfellow. What's more, I believe in argument and I even love it. Argument is our most steadfast pathway toward truth, for it is the only proven arbalest against superstitious thinking, or lackadaisical axioms. "
112 " The only unforgivable crime is to cut short the experiment of one’s own life before its natural end. To do so is a weakness and a pity—for the experiment of life will cut itself off soon enough, in all our cases, and one may just as well have the courage and the curiosity to stay in the battle until one’s eventual and inevitable demise. Anything less than a fight for endurance is cowardly. Anything less than a fight for endurance is a refusal of the great covenant of life. "
113 " One can never know the state of another man’s heart. "
114 " In all of our lives, there are days that we wish we could see expunged from the record of our very existence. Perhaps we long for that erasure because a particular day brought us such splintering sorrow that we can scarcely bear to think of it ever again. Or we might wish to blot out an episode forever because we behaved so poorly on that day- we were mortifyingly selfish, or foolish to an extraordinary degree. Or perhaps we injured another person and wish to disremember guilt. Tragically, there are some days in a lifetime when all three of those things happen at once- when we are heartbroken and foolish and unforgivably injurious to others, all at the same time. "
115 " central beliefs of Calvinist teachings: You are responsible for your own situation in life, you are most likely doomed, and the future is terribly grim. "
116 " The Geographical Distribution of Animals "
117 " there was dignity to be found in stoicism, "
118 " but truly there were times when the sadness of this world was scarcely to be endured, "
119 " but truly there were times when the sadness of this world was scarcely to be endured, and the violence of love, Alma thought, was sometimes the most pitiless violence of all. Her "
120 " Avea obiceiurile, tabieturile si raspunderile ei. Avea demnitatea ei. Intr-adevar, era cam ca o carte care se deschisese la aceeasi pagina in fiecare zi, timp de treizeci de ani in sir - dar nu fusese o pagina prea rea. Se simtise vesela. Multumita. Oricine ar fi spus ca avusese o viata buna. Acum nu s-ar mai fi putut intoarce la viata aceea cu nici un chip. "