The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads from 2015

The Poetics of Smell as a Mode of Knowledge
The Poetics of Smell as a Mode of Knowledge

“The act of smelling something, anything, is remarkably like the act of thinking itself.”

read article

David Hume on Human Nature, the Myth of Selfishness, and Why Vanity Is Proof of Virtue Rather Than Vice
David Hume on Human Nature, the Myth of Selfishness, and Why Vanity Is Proof of Virtue Rather Than Vice

“To love the fame of laudable actions approaches so near the love of laudable actions for their own sake [that] it is almost impossible to have the latter without some degree of the former.”

read article

Philosopher Alain Badiou on Why We Fall and How We Stay in Love
Philosopher Alain Badiou on Why We Fall and How We Stay in Love

“Real love is one that triumphs lastingly, sometimes painfully, over the hurdles erected by time, space and the world.”

read article

9 Learnings from 9 Years of Brain Pickings
9 Learnings from 9 Years of Brain Pickings

Reflections on the rewards of seeking out what magnifies your spirit.

read article

Kafka on Love and Patience
Kafka on Love and Patience

“Patience is the master key to every situation. One must have sympathy for everything, surrender to everything, but at the same time remain patient and forbearing.”

read article

Sylvia Plath on Free Will, the Pillars of Personhood, and What Makes Us Who We Are
Sylvia Plath on Free Will, the Pillars of Personhood, and What Makes Us Who We Are

“I: how firm a letter; how reassuring the three strokes: one vertical, proud and assertive, and then the two short horizontal lines in quick, smug succession.”

read article

How Sitting Is Harming Your Body and What You Can Do to Counter Its Perils
How Sitting Is Harming Your Body and What You Can Do to Counter Its Perils

“Bodies are built for motion — not for stillness.”

read article

The 12th-Century Jewish Philosopher Moses Maimonides on Truth, Doubt, and How to Read Intelligently
The 12th-Century Jewish Philosopher Moses Maimonides on Truth, Doubt, and How to Read Intelligently

“Do not read superficially, lest you do me an injury, and derive no benefit for yourself.”

read article

A New and Sweeping Utopia of Life: Gabriel García Márquez’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
A New and Sweeping Utopia of Life: Gabriel García Márquez’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

An ennobled vision for a world “where no one will be able to decide for others how they die, where love will prove true and happiness be possible.”

read article

Ben Hecht on Greatness, the Radiance of Realness, and the Rewards of Keeping in Touch with the Soul of Your Childhood
Ben Hecht on Greatness, the Radiance of Realness, and the Rewards of Keeping in Touch with the Soul of Your Childhood

On the crucial difference between superficial success and true greatness.

read article

View Full Site

The Marginalian participates in the Bookshop.org and Amazon.com affiliate programs, designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to books. In more human terms, this means that whenever you buy a book from a link here, I receive a small percentage of its price, which goes straight back into my own colossal biblioexpenses. Privacy policy. (TLDR: You're safe — there are no nefarious "third parties" lurking on my watch or shedding crumbs of the "cookies" the rest of the internet uses.)