There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old read more

There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book.

The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: it rejects the read more

The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.

There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.

There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.

The way we imagine ourselves to appear to another person is an essential element in our conception of ourselves. In read more

The way we imagine ourselves to appear to another person is an essential element in our conception of ourselves. In other words, I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am.

I have been in love, and in debt, and in drink, this many and many a year.

I have been in love, and in debt, and in drink, this many and many a year.

How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one's senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality.

How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one's senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality.

We are made for larger ends than Earth can encompass. Oh, let us be true to our exalted destiny.

We are made for larger ends than Earth can encompass. Oh, let us be true to our exalted destiny.

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work read more

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is read more

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.