The Soul Of Man Under Socialism by Oscar Wilde
They try to solve the problem of poverty, for instance, by keeping
the poor alive; or, in the case of a very advanced school, by
amusing the poor.
But this is not a solution: it is an aggravation of the
difficulty. The proper aim is to try and reconstruct society on
such a basis that poverty will be impossible.
But I am glad that you will see me as I am. The chief thing I shouldn’t like would be for people to imagine I want to prove anything. I don’t want to prove anything; I merely want to live, to do no one harm but myself. I have the right to do that, haven’t I?” (VI; xviii).
— Anna Karenina; Leo Tolstoy (via ofyourshadow)
This book hurts.
“Moreover I respected the fellow. Yes; I respected his collars, his vest cuffs, his brushed hair. His appearance was certainly that of a hairdresser’s dummy; but in the the great demoralization of the land he kept up his appearances.That’s backbone.”
Another pretentious excerpt from Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness
At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.
— From Willa Cather My Antonia.
I don’t think man was meant to attain happiness so easily. Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.
— Edmond Dantes, The Count of Monte Cristo (via velascojelly)
