The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “big magic”

The Art of Not-Having-to-Ask, from Buddhist Monks to Amanda Palmer by Way of Thoreau
The Art of Not-Having-to-Ask, from Buddhist Monks to Amanda Palmer by Way of Thoreau

How to unlearn everything our transactionalist culture has taught us about “the market” and relearn our natural open-handed generosity.

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Nietzsche on How to Find Yourself and the True Value of Education
Nietzsche on How to Find Yourself and the True Value of Education

“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life.”

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The Most Beautiful Illustrations from 200 Years of Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
The Most Beautiful Illustrations from 200 Years of Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

Maurice Sendak, Lisbeth Zwerger, Edward Gorey, David Hockney, Wanda Gág, Shaun Tan, and more.

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Legendary Victorian Art Critic John Ruskin on the Value of Imperfection and How Manual Labor Confers Dignity Upon Creative Work
Legendary Victorian Art Critic John Ruskin on the Value of Imperfection and How Manual Labor Confers Dignity Upon Creative Work

“It is only by labour that thought can be made healthy, and only by thought that labour can be made happy, and the two cannot be separated with impunity.”

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Neil Gaiman on How Stories Last
Neil Gaiman on How Stories Last

“Stories … are genuinely symbiotic organisms that we live with, that allow human beings to advance.”

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Martha Graham on the Life-Force of Creativity and the Divine Dissatisfaction of Being an Artist
Martha Graham on the Life-Force of Creativity and the Divine Dissatisfaction of Being an Artist

“No artist is pleased… There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”

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Neuroscientist Sam Harris Selects 12 Books Everyone Should Read
Neuroscientist Sam Harris Selects 12 Books Everyone Should Read

From Bertrand Russell to the Buddha, or why you should spend a weekend reading the Qur’an.

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Mr. Gauguin’s Heart: The Beautiful and Bittersweet True Story of How Paul Gauguin Became an Artist
Mr. Gauguin’s Heart: The Beautiful and Bittersweet True Story of How Paul Gauguin Became an Artist

What an invisible dog knows about the tenacity of the human spirit and the healing power of art.

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The Value of Not Understanding Everything: Grace Paley’s Advice to Aspiring Writers
The Value of Not Understanding Everything: Grace Paley’s Advice to Aspiring Writers

“Luckily for art, life is difficult, hard to understand, useless, and mysterious.”

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The Light of the World: Elizabeth Alexander on Love, Loss, and the Boundaries of the Soul
The Light of the World: Elizabeth Alexander on Love, Loss, and the Boundaries of the Soul

“Perhaps tragedies are only tragedies in the presence of love, which confers meaning to loss.”

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