The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “letters”

Nobel-Winning Playwright Eugene O’Neill on Happiness and the True Measure of Success in a Letter to His Unmotivated Young Son
Nobel-Winning Playwright Eugene O’Neill on Happiness and the True Measure of Success in a Letter to His Unmotivated Young Son

“Any fool knows that to work hard at something you want to accomplish is the only way to be happy.”

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The Hedgehog and the Fox: Italo Calvino on the Two Types of Writers
The Hedgehog and the Fox: Italo Calvino on the Two Types of Writers

“I am a fox, even though I dream of being a hedgehog in all my dreams, and even though I try to write hedgehog books if you take each of them one by one.”

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Leonard Bernstein’s Moving Letter of Gratitude to His Mentor and a Prescient 1943 Manifesto for Crowdfunding the Arts
Leonard Bernstein’s Moving Letter of Gratitude to His Mentor and a Prescient 1943 Manifesto for Crowdfunding the Arts

Decades before Kickstarter, a vision for how micro-patronage can help creators “ascend to new heights” and “gain in confidence, in self-esteem and in fortitude.”

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Why We Hurt Each Other: Tolstoy’s Letters to Gandhi on Love, Violence, and the Truth of the Human Spirit
Why We Hurt Each Other: Tolstoy’s Letters to Gandhi on Love, Violence, and the Truth of the Human Spirit

“Love is the only way to rescue humanity from all ills.”

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Nietzsche’s 10 Rules for Writers, Penned in a Letter to His Lover and Muse
Nietzsche’s 10 Rules for Writers, Penned in a Letter to His Lover and Muse

“Style ought to prove that one believes in an idea; not only that one thinks it but also feels it.”

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Incomparable Things Said Incomparably Well: Emerson’s Extraordinary Letter of Appreciation to Young Walt Whitman
Incomparable Things Said Incomparably Well: Emerson’s Extraordinary Letter of Appreciation to Young Walt Whitman

“I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were no illusion.”

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From a Gentleman to a Lady: A Clever Cryptographic Love Letter from the 1850s
From a Gentleman to a Lady: A Clever Cryptographic Love Letter from the 1850s

“…dropped from the pocket of a young man who is very well known in sporting circles.”

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Keep Your Baby Eyes: Legendary Journalist Lincoln Steffens’s Beautiful Letter of Advice to His Son on the Power of Not-Knowing
Keep Your Baby Eyes: Legendary Journalist Lincoln Steffens’s Beautiful Letter of Advice to His Son on the Power of Not-Knowing

“Keep your baby eyes (which are the eyes of genius) on what we don’t know.”

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Bukowski’s Letter of Gratitude to the Man Who Helped Him Quit His Soul-Sucking Job and Become a Full-Time Writer
Bukowski’s Letter of Gratitude to the Man Who Helped Him Quit His Soul-Sucking Job and Become a Full-Time Writer

“To not have entirely wasted one’s life seems to be a worthy accomplishment, if only for myself.”

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Rilke on the Symbiosis Between the Body and the Soul
Rilke on the Symbiosis Between the Body and the Soul

“I am not one of those who neglect the body in order to make of it a sacrificial offering for the soul, since my soul would thoroughly dislike being served in such a fashion.”

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