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John Dufresne

John Dufresne Books

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“I had begun what I thought might be a career in social work. I was married and deeply involved in the anti-war movement. I thought I'd go about saving the world one person at a time. I worked with kids, teenagers mostly, in neighborhood centers, on the streets, and eventually in a drop-in center.”

WorldPersonsWarMightKidsSocialCareersStreetsMovementInvolvedMarriedSavingTeenagerNeighborhoodAnti WarSocial WorkSave The WorldAnti War Movement
Author:John Dufresne
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“Love is anticipation and memory, uncertainty and longing. It’s unreasonable, of course. Nothing begins with so much excitement and hope and pleasure as love, except maybe writing a story. And nothing fails as often, except writing stories. And like a story, love must be troubled to be interesting.”

WritingStoriesCoursesMemoriesLove IsPleasureInterestingFailingLongingUncertaintyExcitementAnticipationUnreasonableWriting Stories
Book:Love Warps the Mind a Little: A Novel
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“I used to believe that love and happiness were synonymous. I was a fool. Love intensifies all emotions. Nothing is so painful o so sweet, so thrilling or so desperate... Pleasure is, after all, a luxury. It's love thats essential. You are never so alive as when you love, never so alert, intuitive, attentive, never so smart or so compassionate.”

BelieveUsedPleasureEmotionAliveSweetFoolEssentialsSmartPainfulLuxuryDesperateCompassionateIntuitiveThrillingHappiness And Love
Author:John Dufresne
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“We read novels because we need stories; we crave them; we can’t live without telling them and hearing them. Stories are how we make sense of our lives and of the world. When we’re distressed and go to therapy, our therapist’s job is to help us tell our story. Life doesn’t come with plots; it’s messy and chaotic; life is one damn, inexplicable thing after another. And we can’t have that. We insist on meaning. And so we tell stories so that our lives make sense.”

WorldNeedsHelpingStoriesJobsLife IsNovelOur LivesHearingMake SenseTherapyDamnPlotCraveMessyChaoticTherapistsInexplicable
Book:Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months
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“Reading honest literature makes you love the world. Knowledge and understanding are love. Reading educates our feelings and enhances our sympathy. When you read for understanding, you are fundamentally changed. You are a different person at the end of the story or the novel than you were when it began.”

WorldPersonsDifferentEndsStoriesFeelingsReadingLiteratureUnderstandingNovelHonestChangedEducateLove Of ReadingKnowledge And UnderstandingUnderstanding You
Author:John Dufresne
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