The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness.
People say be present, to live in the moment.
Thanks, but I want to live in the future.
In the moment, I want the second half of that pastrami sandwich.
Two hours into the future, with my belly feeling beyond full, I can’t figure out what the hell I was thinking.
The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.
Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Rob Long is a brilliant television writer who offers a weekly five minute commentary on KCRW. He outdid himself this week.
The very best thing about flattery is how incredibly flattering it is. If you’re on the receiving end of a nice blast of “you’re so wonderful” it barely matters – what am I saying, it doesn’t matter in the least! – if it’s true. If you really are wonderful. If the personal telling you how wonderful you are even thinks you are wonderful.
What’s important is that the person delivering the flattering cascade thinks you’re worth the butter. It’s like a kubuki moment: I’m probably lying, you know I’m probably lying, but you’re the kind of person it’s worth lying to.
And if you’re on the other side, if you’re delivering the flattery, it’s amazing how instantly it works, how immediately the recipient begins to glow and swan around. It’s like a sugar rush. It’s cheap, it rots your teeth and makes you fat, but for a few moments, you feel invincible. Flattery, done correctly, is the Cinnabon of human interaction.
Talent is like a marksman who hits a target which others cannot reach; genius is like the marksman who hits a target, as far as which others cannot even see.
— Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher