Some Nice Writing

I just wanted to share some phrases or sentences that caught my attention (primarily for their euphony).

--"like Geppetto fabricating his Pinocchio"  (Phillip Lopate)

--"the self as a social construct"  ("   ")

--"my physiological restlessness"  ("   ")

--"these societies are beset by a broad, nebulous discontent"  (Albena Azmanova)

--"To be radical is to grasp things by the root."  (Karl Marx)

--"There's something about being cooped up that calls for an abundance of comfort food."  (Whitney Perry)

--"a low-slung modern building of white bricks and smoke windows"  (Sam Freedman)

--"over-the-top opulence"  (Debbie Millman)

--"helping to seed the resentment that would later erupt in revolution"  ("   ")

--a 'pretense of undiminished vigor"  (Frank Bruni)

--"pharmacological affinities"  ("   ")

--"the calm reasoning of Aristotelian science"  (Carmen Lea Dege)

--"It's important to keep a few caveats in mind"  (Richard Conniff)

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Quotes

Here are some quotes on the topic of love from the social psychologist, Erich Fromm:

“Love isn't something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn't a feeling, it is a practice.”

“Paradoxically, the ability to be alone is the condition for the ability to love.”

“Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.”

“The mature response to the problem of existence is love.”

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Venting

I'm just venting. That is, about the state of our country, the U.S. I think even some people who support our president are beginning to see they were sold a bill of goods (and the seller keeps raising the price). 

I keep thinking--hoping--it will be like what happened in the Gilded Age and thereafter. Much bad was followed by shocking good for the masses. It seems to be playing out that way.

I will hold on to hope.

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