The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “Goethe”

Emerson on What Beauty Really Means, How to Cultivate Its True Hallmarks, and Why It Bewitches the Human Imagination
Emerson on What Beauty Really Means, How to Cultivate Its True Hallmarks, and Why It Bewitches the Human Imagination

“The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting.”

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Pulitzer-Winning Poet Mark Strand on the Heartbeat of Creative Work and the Artist’s Task to Bear Witness to the Universe
Pulitzer-Winning Poet Mark Strand on the Heartbeat of Creative Work and the Artist’s Task to Bear Witness to the Universe

“It’s such a lucky accident, having been born, that we’re almost obliged to pay attention.”

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The Virtuous Cycle of Gratitude and Mutual Appreciation: The Letters of Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann
The Virtuous Cycle of Gratitude and Mutual Appreciation: The Letters of Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann

“The beautiful exists only in such traces of dream-daring, which a work of art brings with it from its spiritual home.”

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Kandinsky on the Spiritual Element in Art and the Three Responsibilities of Artists
Kandinsky on the Spiritual Element in Art and the Three Responsibilities of Artists

“To harmonize the whole is the task of art.”

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Hans Christian Andersen’s Little-Known Sketches: The Beloved Storyteller’s Illustrated Travelogue of Europe
Hans Christian Andersen’s Little-Known Sketches: The Beloved Storyteller’s Illustrated Travelogue of Europe

What made Andersen particularly enchanting was his singular gift for noticing and depicting not only the whimsical, but also the wistful.

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Ralph Steadman’s Rare and Rapturous Illustrations for Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”
Ralph Steadman’s Rare and Rapturous Illustrations for Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”

“Stuff your eyes with wonder… live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”

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Rereading as Rebirth: Young Susan Sontag on Personal Growth, the Pleasures of Revisiting Beloved Books, and Her Rereading List
Rereading as Rebirth: Young Susan Sontag on Personal Growth, the Pleasures of Revisiting Beloved Books, and Her Rereading List

“Stop! I cannot think this fast! Or rather I cannot grow this fast!”

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Tolstoy’s Reading List: Essential Books for Each Stage of Life
Tolstoy’s Reading List: Essential Books for Each Stage of Life

Even if one could never “finish” great literature, one has to begin somewhere.

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The Best of Brain Pickings 2013
The Best of Brain Pickings 2013

Everything you missed and everything you’d want to revisit, in one cozy place.

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2013’s Best Books on Writing and Creativity
2013’s Best Books on Writing and Creativity

Timeless wisdom and practical advice on the pleasures and perils of the written word and the creative life.

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