The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “history”

Scandal, Censorship, Science: How Darwin Shaped Our Understanding of Why Language Exists
Scandal, Censorship, Science: How Darwin Shaped Our Understanding of Why Language Exists

What The Origin of Species and the love of dogs reveal about comprehension and cognition.

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Faces of Justice: Mariana Cook’s Portraits of Human Rights Leaders
Faces of Justice: Mariana Cook’s Portraits of Human Rights Leaders

“Peering through the camera lens, I hoped to gain an understanding of how they become so devoted to the rights and dignity of others.”

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Thoreau on Why Not to Quote Thoreau
Thoreau on Why Not to Quote Thoreau

“It would be a truer discipline for the writer to … clear a new field instead of manuring the old.”

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The Surprising History of the Pencil
The Surprising History of the Pencil

What medieval smuggling has to do with the atomic structure of carbon.

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Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on What It Takes to Be Free from Fear
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on What It Takes to Be Free from Fear

“Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps most precious is [the] courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions.”

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14-Year-Old George Washington’s 110 Commandments for Cultivating Character
14-Year-Old George Washington’s 110 Commandments for Cultivating Character

“Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”

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Legendary Optimist Helen Keller on Her Greatest Regret
Legendary Optimist Helen Keller on Her Greatest Regret

“Out of this sorrowful experience I understand more fully all human strivings, thwarted ambitions, and the infinite capacity of hope.”

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Virginia Woolf’s Never-Before-Seen Witty Family Newspaper, Illustrated by Her Nephew, Quentin Bell
Virginia Woolf’s Never-Before-Seen Witty Family Newspaper, Illustrated by Her Nephew, Quentin Bell

A heartwarming inter-generational collaboration of irreverent humor.

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Turning Abruptly from Friendship to Love: Sartre’s Piercing Love Letter to Simone Jollivet
Turning Abruptly from Friendship to Love: Sartre’s Piercing Love Letter to Simone Jollivet

“I am mastering my love for you and turning it inwards as a constituent element of myself.”

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The Secret to Learning Anything: Albert Einstein’s Advice to His Son
The Secret to Learning Anything: Albert Einstein’s Advice to His Son

“That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don’t notice that the time passes.”

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