The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads by Maria Popova

Halloween’s Lost Heroes: Michael Pollan on Radical Gardening and the Insurgent Botanical Origin of the Broomstick in Flying-Witch Legends
Halloween’s Lost Heroes: Michael Pollan on Radical Gardening and the Insurgent Botanical Origin of the Broomstick in Flying-Witch Legends

“For most of their history… gardens have been more concerned with the power of plants than with their beauty — with the power, that is, to change us in various ways, for good and for ill.”

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When Your Parents Are Dying: Some of the Simplest, Most Difficult and Redemptive Life-Advice You’ll Ever Receive
When Your Parents Are Dying: Some of the Simplest, Most Difficult and Redemptive Life-Advice You’ll Ever Receive

“Death makes human beings seem like very small containers that are packed so densely we can only be aware of a fraction of what’s inside us from moment to moment.”

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The Most Important Thing to Remember About Your Mother
The Most Important Thing to Remember About Your Mother

“It is not easy to give closeness and freedom, safety plus danger.”

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Sylvia Plath on Living with the Darkness and Making Art from the Barely Bearable Lightness of Being
Sylvia Plath on Living with the Darkness and Making Art from the Barely Bearable Lightness of Being

“One has to shut off that nagging part of the mind and go on without it with bravo and philosophy.”

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Walt Whitman’s Advice on Living a Vibrant and Rewarding Life
Walt Whitman’s Advice on Living a Vibrant and Rewarding Life

“Love the earth and sun and the animals… re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul…”

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Truth, Fact, and the Patterning of Reality: Virginia Woolf on How We Come to Know the World
Truth, Fact, and the Patterning of Reality: Virginia Woolf on How We Come to Know the World

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What Is Your Refugium?
What Is Your Refugium?

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What It Takes to Be Free
What It Takes to Be Free

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Marcus Aurelius on the Good Luck of Your Bad Luck
Marcus Aurelius on the Good Luck of Your Bad Luck

“What happened could have happened to anyone, but not everyone could have carried on.”

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Bob Dylan on the Unconscious Mind and the Ideal Conditions for Creative Work
Bob Dylan on the Unconscious Mind and the Ideal Conditions for Creative Work

“People have a hard time accepting anything that overwhelms them.”

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