“At least half of your mind is always thinking, I'll be leaving; this won't last. It's a good Buddhist attitude. If I were a Buddhist, this would be a great help. As it is, I'm just sad.” IfsThinkingMindHelpingWould BeLastsHalfAttitudeLeavingBuddhistAlways ThinkingGood Buddhist Author:Anne Carson
“The Greek language seems different than other languages. I'm not the only person to think this. Usually, I come up with some kind of dopey metaphor for why it's different. But it seems, somehow, more original, more like being in the morning of language.” ThinkingKindPersonsDifferentSeemsLanguageMorningOriginalsMetaphorCome UpGreek Author:Anne Carson
“Do you remember when they taught cursive in schools? I think they don't anymore. But I still enjoy it - just the physical act and all the - the whole business of making a thing out of language.” ThinkingStillsWholeSchoolRememberLanguageEnjoyTaughtRemember WhenCursive Author:Anne Carson
“We are only midway through the central verse of our youth when we see ourselves begin to blacken. ... We had been seduced into thinking that we were immortal and suddenly the affair is over.” ThinkingYouthAffairImmortalVersesMidway Book:Plainwater: Essays and Poetry Source: Plainwater: Essays and Poetry
“Men know almost nothing about desire, they think it has to do with sexual activity or can be discharged that way. But sex is a substitute, like money or language. Sometimes I just want to stop seeing.” ThinkingKnowsMenWayWantSometimesDesireLanguageSexSeeingActivitySubstitutes Book:Plainwater: Essays and Poetry Source: Plainwater: Essays and Poetry
“A thinking mind is not swallowed up by what it comes to know. It reaches out to grasp something related to itself and to its present knowledge (and so knowable in some degree) but also separate from itself and from its present knowledge (not identical with these). In any act of thinking, the mind must reach across this space between known and unknown, linking one to the other but also keeping visible to difference. It is an erotic space.” ThinkingKnowsMindDifferencesSpaceKnownDegreesRelatedVisibleReach OutEroticIdenticalSpace BetweenThinking Mind Book:Eros the Bittersweet: An Essay Source: Eros the Bittersweet: An Essay
“I do think I have an ability to record sensual and emotional facts and factoids, to construct a convincing surface of what life feels like, both physical life and emotional life.” ThinkingFeelsFactsAbilityRecordsEmotionalSurfaceSensualConstructsConvincingEmotional Life Author:Anne Carson
“I do think that something of the effect I have on people is to put everything on an edge where they're both infatuated with a kind of charmingness happening in the person or in the writing, and also flatly terrified by a revelation or acceptance of revelation that's almost happening, never quite totally happening.” PeopleThinkingWritingKindPersonsEffectsAcceptanceHappeningsEdgesRevelationsTerrifiedNever QuitInfatuated Author:Anne Carson
“I don't know that we really think any thoughts; we think connections between thoughts. That's where the mind moves, that's what's new, and the thoughts themselves have probably been there in my head or lots of other people's heads for a long time.” PeopleThinkingKnowsMindLongMovingLong TimeConnections Author:Anne Carson
“There is something about the way that Greek poets, say Aeschylus, use metaphor that really attracts me. I don't think I can imitate it, but there's a density to it that I think I'm always trying to push towards in English.” ThinkingWayTryingI CanUsePoetMetaphorGreekAlways TryingUsing MeDensity Author:Anne Carson
