I am constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable, to explain something inexplicable, to tell about something I only feel in my bones and which can only be experienced in those bones.
—Franz Kafka, carta para Milena Jesenska, Novembro de 1920 (via Letters of Note).
When you start something new, how do you know where you’re going to end up? Most of the time, you don’t — you stumble around for awhile, exploring uncertainly until, slowly, things start to make sense. That messy journey is all part of the process.
—Jason Kottke, The Process Tee, 19 de Setembro de 2023, Kottke.org
I’d rather talk to one friend in a quiet cafe than fifty acquaintances at a party. Not only is it more of a cosy pleasure, it also works because there is a boundary with the friend; you know where you are. I’ve had a series of male friends, most of which were older than me, and all opened up the world, each in different ways. I was always pushy and curious as a kid; I wanted to know stuff, and be enthused by others. A smart friend can re-describe things for you; seeing stuff on your pal’s terms makes new objects suddenly pleasurable. As Emerson says, “The moment we indulge our affections, the each is metamorphosed”.
—Hanif Kureishi, Friends and Enemies, Substack, 13 de Setembro de 2023
Anybody who goes through life with open mind and open heart will encounter these moments of revelation, moments that are saturated with meaning, but whose meaning cannot be put into words. These moments are precious to us. When they occur it is as though, on the winding ill-lit stairway of our life, we suddenly come across a window, through which we catch sight of another and brighter world – a world to which we belong but which we cannot enter.
—Roger Scruton, Effing the Ineffable, Catholic Education Resource Center, 4 de Novembro de 2010
iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Ouvido na Universidade Católica.