Reads by Maria Popova
Margaret Fuller on the Revitalizing Power and Spiritual Rewards of a Seaside Vacation
A lyrical ode to the ocean’s invitation to self-transcendence from the grand dame of Transcendentalism.
Gauguin’s Stirring First-Hand Account of What Actually Happened the Night Van Gogh Cut off His Own Ear
“Between two such beings as he and I, the one a perfect volcano, the other boiling too, inwardly, a sort of struggle was preparing.”
The Creative Tension Between Vitality and Fatality: Illuminating the Mystery of Sylvia Plath Through Her Striking Never-Before-Revealed Visual Art
“How frail the human heart must be — a throbbing pulse, a trembling thing — a fragile, shining instrument of crystal, which can either weep, or sing.”
Sun and Moon: Stunning Illustrations of Celestial Myths by Ten of India’s Greatest Indigenous Artists
Ancient allegorical reflections on the universal themes of life, love, time, harmony, and our eternal search for a completeness of being.
91-Year-Old Lebanese-American Poet, Philosopher, and Painter Etel Adnan on Memory, the Self, and the Universe
“The universe is itself the glue that keeps it going, therefore it is memory in action and in essence, in becoming and in being. Because it remembers itself, it exists. Because it exists, it remembers.”
Answers in Progress: Amiri Baraka’s Lyrical Manifesto for Life
“Love all things that make you strong.”
The Haunted Mind: Nathaniel Hawthorne on the Edges of Consciousness Illuminate Time and Eternity
“Yesterday has already vanished among the shadows of the past; to-morrow has not yet emerged from the future. You have found an intermediate space… a spot where Father Time, when he thinks nobody is watching him, sits down by the way side to take breath.”
John Quincy Adams on Efficiency vs. Effectiveness, the Proper Aim of Ambition, and His Daily Routine
“The spark from Heaven is given to few — It is not to be obtained by intreaty or by toil.”
The Terror Within and the Evil Without: James Baldwin on Our Capacity for Transformation as Individuals and Nations
“It has always been much easier (because it has always seemed much safer) to give a name to the evil without than to locate the terror within.”
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