| (no subject) |
[Jan. 4th, 2011|12:37 am] |
I measure every Grief I meet
With narrow, probing, Eyes —
I wonder if It weighs like Mine —
Or has an Easier size.
I wonder if They bore it long —
Or did it just begin —
I could not tell the Date of Mine —
It feels so old a pain —
I wonder if it hurts to live —
And if They have to try —
And whether — could They choose between —
It would not be — to die —
I note that Some — gone patient long —
At length, renew their smile —
An imitation of a Light
That has so little Oil —
I wonder if when Years have piled —
Some Thousands — on the Harm —
That hurt them early — such a lapse
Could give them any Balm —
Or would they go on aching still
Through Centuries of Nerve —
Enlightened to a larger Pain -
In Contrast with the Love —
The Grieved — are many — I am told —
There is the various Cause —
Death — is but one — and comes but once —
And only nails the eyes —
There's Grief of Want — and Grief of Cold —
A sort they call "Despair" —
There's Banishment from native Eyes —
In sight of Native Air —
And though I may not guess the kind —
Correctly — yet to me
A piercing Comfort it affords
In passing Calvary —
To note the fashions — of the Cross —
And how they're mostly worn —
Still fascinated to presume
That Some — are like My Own —
-Emily Dickinson |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 31st, 2010|06:04 pm] |
Whoever disenchants
A single Human soul
By failure of irreverence
Is guilty of the whole.
As guileless as a Bird
As graphic as a star
Till the suggestion sinister
Things are not what they are -
-Emily Dickinson |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 28th, 2010|03:22 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Into the West - Annie Lennox | ] |
It's always fun to rediscover something. For me it would be this livejournal account. I guess I need a place to just pen down poems/quotations that have an impact on me and this site will do. Recently I've haven't the time to indulge myself in reading, but with what precious spare time I have, I find myself reading poetry. Here are three little snippets that really have an impact on me.
Some day we will try
To do as many things as are possible
And perhaps we shall succeed at a handful
Of them, but this will not have anything
To do with what is promised today
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror - John Ashbery
My life closed twice before its close -
It yet remains to see
If immortality unveil
A third event to me
So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
-Emily Dickinson
Grandeur, savoir, renommé,
Amitié, plaisir et bien,
Tout n'est que vent, que fumée:
Pour mieux dire, tout n'est rien.
-Paul Pelisson
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 5th, 2009|08:48 pm] |
I actually wrote a long harangue out on a piece of paper bout national pride and how useless it all is, connecting it to the media in Singapore, but unfortunately, I can't find that piece at the moment, so I'm doing this to entertain myself.
Type Outcast
[] You don't have very many friends.
[] Often times, teachers forget your name.
[] You were always picked last for kickball.
[] You don't like to talk a lot.
[] You tend to avoid mass social activities (i.e.- dances, ice cream socials, football games, etc.)
[] You don't participate in any extracurricular activities.
[] All you wish for is to move away or get a fresh start.
[] Your friends have blown you off before.
[] You sit alone in most of your classes.
[] You have a feeling that once you leave high school or college, nobody is going to remember you.
[] You hold interest in activities that other people find strange.
[] You have a large sexual background.
[] People don't find you friendly.
[x] You hold extreme hate towards another high school stereotype.
[] You eat alone at lunch.
Total = 1
Party Girl/Boy
[] Lets face it: you like to party.
[] You party every other weekend.
[] Or every weekend?
[] You've been going to frat house parties since early high school.
[] You're the defending beer bong champion.
[] You know the best hook-ups in the state.
[] Everybody who's anybody goes to the same parties you go to.
[] You've hooked up at parties.
[] You spend time getting ready for parties.
[] You've passed out from being too drunk.
[] You've partied all night.
[] You've snuck out of the house to party.
[] Actually, your parents really don't care if you party or not.
[x] You're pretty much nocturnal.
[] You like to go clubbing.
[] You and your friends always party hop.
[] You've crashed a party before.
[] One way or another, you've wound up naked in front of everybody at a party.
[] You've thrown up from drinking too much.
[] You've done something that you regret at a party.
[] You can dance.
[x] You're friends with a lot of people older than you.
Total = 2
Scene Kid
[] You know what sXe and hXc mean.
[] You have a obsession with dinosaurs, robots, and Pokemon.
[] You idolize Jeffree Star.
[] People have called you scene before.
[] You spend at least an hour getting ready to take pictures of yourself for your myspace.
[] You have taken a mirror pic.
[x] You listen to bands that most people have never heard of.
[x] You enjoy going to shows.
[] You only go to shows for the sake of going to shows, not the music.
[] Your hair is multicolored.
[] You accessorize your hair with kiddie barrettes and bows.
[] Fashion is one of the most important things that define you.
[] You mosh.
[x] You often mix vintage with modern.
[] Your myspace picture captions are sad lyrics to sad songs.
[] All of your friends are scene.
[] You don't know many of the people on your friends list in person
[] You take angled pictures of yourself.
[x You enjoy photography.
Total = 3
Prep
[] You pop the collar
[] You wont go near the Goths
[] You own at least one thing from a designer store.
[] You are very clean cut.
[] You are squeamish.
[] People have called you preppy before.
[] You never leave the house without putting on cologne/perfume.
[1] You have a lot of money in the bank.
[] You know who LC is.
[] You watch shows like The OC, The Real World, The Hills, and Laguna Beach.
[] One favorite stores are Abercrombie & Fitch or American Eagle Outfitters.
[] You're afraid to set foot into Hot Topic.
[] (Girls) You carry a purse wherever you go.
[] You need to wake up at least an hour before school so you can get ready.
[] (Girls) You do not leave the house without make up.
[] You are content overall with how your life is going.
Total= 1
Band Geek
[x] You have played an instrument before.
[] You still play an instrument.
[] You are/were in regular Band.
[] You are/were in Jazz Band.
[] You are/were in Marching Band
[] You've never dated anybody outside of Band.
[] Most of your friends are in band.
[] The band room/band hall is your second home.
[x] You enjoy listening to classical music on occasion.
[] You aspire[d] to be a Drum Major.
[] You've made out with somebody on a band bus or at a band competition.
[] You have trouble getting your non-band friends to go near the band room.
[] Band is your favorite class.
[] You have been to band camp.
[] You walk in step with all your friends.
[] You talk about band constantly.
[] You know that American Pie has got it all wrong.
[x] You hate rap music.
[] Marching Season is your favorite time of year.
[] When you go to football games, you don't really pay attention to the game itself.
[] Your favorite jokes are band jokes.
[] You know it's not about the bloods and the crips: it's the brass and the woodwinds.
Total = 3
Thespian
[x] You have seen a school play.
[x] You have seen a musical.
[x] You like to act.
[x] You have participated in a school play.
[] You have participated in a play outside of school.
[] You have gone to the Thespian Conference (State or International or both).
[x] You get pissed off when people make that thespian, did you say lesbian? joke.
[] You have done tech.
[] You know that you cannot touch anybody else's props.
[x] You have played in the pit orchestra for a musical.
[x] You have been to a cast party.
[] You are in a thespian troupe.
[] You often sing show tunes at the top of your lungs.
[x] You know who Idina Menzel and Johnathan Larson are.
[x] At one point in your life, you were obsessed with RENT.
[] You do not have a personal bubble.
[x] You actually understand Shakespeare.
[x] You know how to put on stage make up.
[x] You have been a lead.
[x] You met a lot of your better friends through theatre.
Total = 13
Overachiever
[] You participate in a lot of extracurricular activities.
[] You have a part-time job.
[] You have straight As.
[] You are in mostly honors/IB/AP classes.
[] You do not procrastinate.
[] You have scored a 5 on an AP test.
[x] You do not have very much down time.
[] You are very organized.
[x] You always have a thousand things going on at once.
[] You are in a long-term relationship.
[] You aspire to get into an Ivy League School.
[] In your extracurriculars, you hold leadership positions.
[] You are/were on Student Council.
[] You are/were the class president.
[] You are/were a class officer.
[] You are/were the Salutatorian for your class.
[] You are/were the Valedictorian for your class.
[] People have told you that you didn't have a life
[] You are getting/have already received the IB Diploma.
[] You cry hysterically when you get anything lower than an A on anything
Total = 2
Slacker
[x] Your grades are slipping
[x] You always wait until the last minute to do big projects.
[x] You do a lot of things half-assed.
[x] You are an overall procrastinator.
[x] You tend to do your homework when you're watching TV.
[] It takes you ages to turn your job applications in.
[] You are often late to school/work.
[] You don't turn in a lot of your work.
[x] You spend the majority of your time watching TV, the computer or going on Myspace when you could be doing something more productive.
[x] You sleep in past noon on the weekends and during the summer.
[x] You do not get out of your pyjamas unless you have to leave the house.
[] You could walk, but you'll just drive.
[x] You have fallen asleep during class before.
[x] Friends have called you lazy.
[x] Life is hard when you lose the remote & you have to walk a million miles over to the TV and change the channel.
[] When you hang out with your friends, the majority of your time is spent playing video games or doing something where neither of you have to stand up.
[] You have eaten an entire pint of ice cream in one sitting.
[x]You have sat through an entire running marathon of a show before.
Total = 12
Goth
[] Your wardrobe consists of mostly black things.
[] When you have the money, you shop at Hot Topic.
[] You think tattoos are hot
[] You think odd piercings are hot.
[] You don't get along with your parents
[] You have/want to dyed/dye your hair an exotic color.
[] You've styled your hair into liberty spikes
[] Sometimes you ponder the meaning of life and death.
[] You like to write dark poetry.
[] You are into S&M.
[] You have a pair of oversized black pants.
[] At one point in your life, you liked Foamy, Happy Bunny, Emily the Strange, and the Happy Tree Friends.
[] You listen to grunge. [Nirvana and Pearl Jam ftw!]
[] You have a messenger bag with buttons up and down the straps.
[] You smoke cigarettes
[] You tend to only date other goths.
[x] You don't really care what people think about you.
[] Overly happy people scare you.
[] You like black makeup & nail polish best.
Total = 1
Nerd
[x] You actually study for tests and quizzes. [sometimes]
[] You have straight As.
[] You are into WoW, Magic Cards, and Halo.
[] You overanalyze jokes to the point where they aren't funny anymore.
[] Your mom buys your clothes for you.
[x] You actually answer the questions in class. [sometimes]
[] You sit front row center in all of your classes to get the best learning experience.
[] You miss school during the summer.
[] You wear your pants at your waist.
[] You prefer sweatpants to jeans.
[] You have a pocket protector in your shirt with pens and a calculator in it.
[] You let cute boys/girls take advantage of you & copy your homework in hopes of getting noticed.
[x] You've noticed some of the spelling and grammar mistakes in this survey.
[] People always cheat off you during tests.
[] Your parents pack lunch for you every day.
[x] You wear/should be wearing glasses.
Total = 4
Garage Band Junkie
[x] You play/want to play the bass. [want!]
[] You have been in a garage band before
[] You're still in a garage band
[]You think your band is going to make it big someday.
[] You play shows almost weekly.
[] You play the drum set.
[]You sing vocals for a band.
[] You write your own lyrics.
[] You spend hundreds on amps and microphones.
[] Your band has a myspace page.
[] You have been in multiple garage bands.
[] You have changed the name of your band at least twice.
[] You have participated in a battle of the bands
[] Your band has been signed.
[] You have taken guitar classes at school.
[] You have played at the same venue multiple times.
[] You would rather make it big than have to go to college.
[] You have at least some musical talent.
[] You have groupies.
[] You've made t-shirts and other apparel for your band
Total = 1
Gangsta
[] You actually are black.
[] You know who the bloods and the crips are.
[] You wear doo-rags.
[] You actually grew up in the ghetto.
[] You can freestyle.
[] You drive down the street blaring your music.
[] Your ride is pimped out with stereo boosts.
[] You can break dance.
[] You say nigga a lot.
[x] You talk too fast for people to understand you.
[] You are pretty chill with life.
[] You wear your jeans oversized and below your ass.
[] Old school rap is the best.
[] You know that Tupac will never die.
[] You wear Bling.
[x] You know what Bling is.
[] You have/want a custom grill.
[] You have custom rims on your tires.
[] You are actually in a gang.
[] You are always big pimpin'
Total = 2
Emo
[] You often have trouble convincing people that you aren't emo.
[] You comb your hair over one of your eyes.
[] You flip your hair often
[]You have dark-rimmed glasses.
[] If you're a boy, people often complain about your pants being too tight.
[] You don't really smile too often.
[] You blog often.
[] You never smile in pictures.
[] You listen to Thursday and/or Sunny Day Real Estate.
[] You own a lot of band t-shirts.
[] You go to a lot of shows.
[] You only go for emo/scene boys and girls.
[] It doesn't take very much to make you cry.
[] You have played all the Emo Games (www.emogame.com)
[] You have worn black eyeliner before.
[] You own a bandana in which you wear in your hair or around your leg.
[x] You have dark hair.
[] You love the emo song.
[] You say/type stuff like "I feel like my hearts being ripped out" and all.
Total = 1
Skatepunk
[] You own a skateboard.
[] You have been skateboarding since you were in grade school.
[] You have gotten many injuries from skateboarding.
[] You know that World Industries and Element aren't just clothing lines.
[x] You have vandalized public property.
[] You have TPed/egged somebody's house before.
[] You have been yelled at for loitering.
[] You have gotten in trouble with the cops.
[] You listen to punk rock.
[] Chicks on skateboards are hot.
[] You stick it to the man.
[] You own skater shoes.
[] You watch MTV2, not MTV.
[] You enjoy crude humor.
[] Screw school, lets do crazy stuff.
[] You know that there are other pro skaters out there besides Tony Hawk.
[] You pretty much live at the skate park.
[] Hygene does not concern you.
[] Skater boys are attractive.
Total = 1
Metalhead
[] Most people are scared of your music.
[] A lot of the bands you like have violent names/titles/lyrics.
[x] You hate emo kids.
[] You have gotten kicked out of a public place before.
[] Slipknot isn't really metal.
[] You appreciate really good guitarists of any genre, particularly flamenco.
[x] You hate pop and rap. [only rap...pop, it depends]
[] You spend all your money on music-related stuff.
[] Scene kids are fun to laugh at.
[x] You will become friends with anyone if they like the same bands.
[] You curse.
[] You can name at least five subgenres of metal. [thrash, speed, progressive, symphonic, death, black, nu-metal, etc.]
[] You wore black converses before they became emo.
[] At least one of your favourite bands thinks they're vikings.
[] You also like classic rock, such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
[x] You have yelled at someone for their taste in music.
Total = 2
I'm a thespian! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 25th, 2009|12:15 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Gounod: Faust - Introduction | ] |
It's already 09 and I have not made any resolutions for the new year yet. So I shall follow the Chinese calendar and make my new year resolutions before the year of the ox arrives.
Proclamations of personal premeditations for the impending year
Save money
Excercise a bit
Spend more time with my family, especially my brother
I recieved an email today from my writing account, Fictionpress. Someone reviewed my works. I clean forgot about that website, hence I decided to start writing, and reading again on a more regular basis. My current tenure in the army has been distracting me from that of late. Anyways I recently read something fascinating by Horace. I shall share that poem here.
What slim youngster, his hair dripping with fragant oil,
Makes hot love to you now, Pyrrha, ensconed in a
Snug cave curtained with roses?
Who lays claim to that casually
Chic blonde hair in a braid? Soon he'll be scolding the
Gods, whose promise, like yours, failed him, and gaping at
At black winds making his ocean's
Fair face unrecognisable.
He's still credulous, though, hugging the prize he thinks
Pure gold, shining and fond, his for eternity.
Ah, poor fool, but the breeze plays
Tricks. Doomed, all who would venture to
Sail that glittering sea. Fixed to the temple wall,
My plaque tells of an old sailer who floundered and,
Half-drowned, hung up his clothes to
Neptune, lord of the element.
Horace: Odes, Book 1, V
This ode is so beautiful. Firstly, the elements of roman mythology is present. The tribute to Neptune as the old sailor hangs up his clothes to the god for saving his life. However, what is most beautiful is perhaps the hidden sublime message present telling one to carpe diem, as is present in most of Horace's odes. Yes, the disillusioned youth believed that the courtesan Pyrrha would be his for all time, and he really revered her. However on a perhaps deeper level, this ode shows that the only constancy is Pyrrha herself, that the courtesan would always be there for all man to ravage, and that when the chance come for us to ravage her, we must seize the day, and do so with all our hearts and passion, as she is pure gold, shining and fond. Well, that is my own reflection of that ode. I try to find a silver lining to the dark cloud of a theme associated here as seen in the abandonment and despair. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|08:17 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro: Porgi, Amor - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf | ] |
I've decided to start writing again. It would seem that my English is in the pits. Recently a superior asked me for some help regarding on sentence structuring. Here is the sentence. Best wishes _____ your future endeavours. He asked me what the most suitable proposition would be in that sentence, and to my astonishment, I realised I had no idea. Even know I really am not sure what the most appropriate proposition is to be used. Hence I decided to start writing again, an attempt to keep my brain working, and not let it deteriorate further than it already is. Seriously, my stagnant life in the army only serves to exacerbate my language skills.
I deleted all my past posts save one, a rather amusing little 'quiz' of some sorts showing what I've read and such. It's kind of a rather nice way of reminding me of the books that I really want to read. And that extremely amusing quote about Jane Austen is so priceless. Anyway, the deleting of my previous posts is a way of solidifying my stance on improving my language. No longer shall I be using this journal as a platform to prattle about the mundane going ons in my life. I want to just share my thoughts on my favourite music, movies, books, and perhaps some views on life in general and society. Rather lofty of me I suppose.
Perhaps another reason why I decided to start writing again is that just a few minutes ago I saw a person advertising his blog on his MSN nick. Well, I went to take a read, and I was mortified. It was so, in today's lingo, 'emo'. I am so disgusted at people who wallow in self pity, advertising their pain, and just seem to love it. It's disgusting, yet it is a growing trend. I want to show people what life have to offer. To perhaps go against the flow. To show some class and elegance. Call me elitist, pretentious or whatever you will, but that's the way I am, and it is genuinely fun for me.
I'm currently listening to Mozart's Porgi Armor sung by my favourite soprano, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. That's her on my display pic by the way. I love the way you can feel her very emotions. Every ounce of sadness and pain conveyed in that aria, yet still sung majestically and elegantly. Really, classical music/opera has so much to offer, yet people just regard it as boring. What a waste. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 8th, 2008|10:44 am] |
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Instructions:
- Look at the list and bold those you have read
- Italicise the ones you want to read
- Underline the books you really loved and strikethrough the ones really didn't enjoy
- Reprint this list in your own journal if you want to... you know you want to.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In A Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Stole this when LJ hopping. Some books are kinda duplicated, such as the complete works of Shakespeare and Hamlet. Anyways, look look, which author's books did I strikethrough the most??? Lol.
I am at a loss to understand why people hold Miss Austen's novels at so high a rate, which seem to me vulgar in tone, sterile in artistic invention, imprisoned in their wretched conventions of English society, without genius, wit, or knowledge of the world. Never was life so pinched and narrow. All that interests in any character is: has he (or she) the money to marry with??? Suicide is more respectable
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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