The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “a burst of light”

The Trans-Sensory Transcendence of Music: Helen Keller’s Electrifying Letter About “Hearing” Beethoven’s Ode to Joy
The Trans-Sensory Transcendence of Music: Helen Keller’s Electrifying Letter About “Hearing” Beethoven’s Ode to Joy

“I felt the chorus grow more exultant, more ecstatic, upcurving swift and flame-like, until my heart almost stood still.”

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Hemingway’s Tough-Love Letter of Advice to F. Scott Fitzgerald on Writing and Turning Suffering into Creative Fuel
Hemingway’s Tough-Love Letter of Advice to F. Scott Fitzgerald on Writing and Turning Suffering into Creative Fuel

“Forget your personal tragedy… Good writers always come back. Always.”

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Albert Camus on What It Means to Be a Rebel and to Be in Solidarity with Justice
Albert Camus on What It Means to Be a Rebel and to Be in Solidarity with Justice

“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”

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Intuition of the Instant: French Philosopher Gaston Bachelard on Our Paradoxical Experience of Time
Intuition of the Instant: French Philosopher Gaston Bachelard on Our Paradoxical Experience of Time

“If our heart were large enough to love life in all its detail, we would see that every instant is at once a giver and a plunderer…”

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The 15 Best Books of 2015
The 15 Best Books of 2015

Rewarding reflections on time, love, loss, courage, creativity, and other transformations of the heart.

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Swifter Than a Bird Flies: An Astonishing Account of Riding the First Passenger Train and How the Invention of Railroads Changed Human Consciousness
Swifter Than a Bird Flies: An Astonishing Account of Riding the First Passenger Train and How the Invention of Railroads Changed Human Consciousness

“When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful, and strange beyond description.”

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How to Neutralize Haters: E.E. Cummings, Creative Courage, and the Importance of Protecting the Artist’s Right to Challenge the Status Quo
How to Neutralize Haters: E.E. Cummings, Creative Courage, and the Importance of Protecting the Artist’s Right to Challenge the Status Quo

“War and chaos have plagued the world for quite a long time, but each epoch creates its own special pulse-beat for the artists to interpret.”

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The Enchantment of Mathematics
The Enchantment of Mathematics

A 19th-century love letter to the most limitless medium of thought.

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When Breath Becomes Air: A Young Neurosurgeon Examines the Meaning of Life as He Faces His Death
When Breath Becomes Air: A Young Neurosurgeon Examines the Meaning of Life as He Faces His Death

“When you come to one of the many moments in life where you must give an account of yourself, provide a ledger of what you have been, and done, and meant to the world…”

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H Is for Hawk: Helen Macdonald on Love, Loss, Time, and Our Improbable Allies in Healing
H Is for Hawk: Helen Macdonald on Love, Loss, Time, and Our Improbable Allies in Healing

“The world is full of signs and wonders that come, and go, and if you are lucky you might be alive to see them.”

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