Science is history arranged according to the superstition and taste of the moment. The vocabulary of scholars has no wit, no salt. These heavy tomes have no soul, they are filled with distress.
Blaise CendrarsRead
One's life, from being an exterior thing, grows inwards. Its intensity stays the same; and, d'you know, it's most mysterious, the corners in which the joy of living can sometimes hide away.
Interpretation
Life's true essence is often found within, revealing unexpected joys even in the smallest corners.
In this quote, Blaise Cendrars reflects on the nature of life, suggesting that while our experiences may seem outwardly focused, the true depth and richness of life are discovered when we turn our gaze inward. This inward journey can unveil hidden joys and mysteries that might otherwise go unnoticed, emphasizing that life's intensity remains constant regardless of external circumstances.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal growth, you could use this quote to illustrate the importance of introspection.
Science is history arranged according to the superstition and taste of the moment. The vocabulary of scholars has no wit, no salt. These heavy tomes have no soul, they are filled with distress.
My poor life This shawl Frayed on strongboxes full of gold I roll along with Dream And smoke And the only flame in the universe
Writing is to descend like a miner to the depths of the mine with a lamp on your forehead, a light whose dubious brightness falsifies everything, whose wick is in permanent danger of explosion, whose blinking illumination in the coal dust exhausts and corrodes your eyes.
Only a soul full of despair can ever attain serenity and, to be in despair, you must have loved a good deal and still love the world.
I'm not an extraordinary worker, I'm an extraordinary daydreamer. I exceed all my fantasies-even that of writing.
Real sadness is such an all-encompassing intense thing that it takes you out of your humdrum existence. If you can still function, you want to show it while it's peaking. So when people tell you to cheer up, it's not always the best thing.
I live in solitude. I have need of solitude to do the next day's work. I can't be to parties where the noise tires me. I can't speak on the telephone. I must have complete calm.
Now they came back to him, on this night he was seventeen years old. All the years and places of his brief broken life came within mind's reach and made a whole again. He knew once more, at last, after this long, bitter, waisted time, who he was and where he was. But where he must go in the years to come, that he could not see; and he feared to see it.
I was lucky to come from a difficult area. It teaches you not just about football but also life.
When in the end, the day came on which I was going away, I learned the strange learning that things can happen which we ourselves cannot possibly imagine, either beforehand, or at the time when they are taking place, or afterwards when we look back on them.
I think when you give, that's probably the highest form of living. It's better than almost any feeling you could think of. It's way better than scoring touchdowns to me.
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