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The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life makes it Hard to be Happy

Book by Michael Foley · 10 quotes · Injustice, Resentment, Solitude

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The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life makes it Hard to be Happy Quotes

“But who, in the Western world, has not been deranged by a toxic cocktail of dissatisfaction, restlessness, desire and resentment? Who has not yearned to be younger, richer, more talented, more respected, more celebrated, and, above all, more sexually attractive? Who has not felt entitled to more and aggrieved when more was not forthcoming? It is possible that a starving African farmer has less sense of injustice than a middle-aged Western male who has never been fellated.”

WorldDesireFeltMiddleWesternMalesInjusticeAttractiveFarmersToxicResentmentEntitledStarvingSexuallyDissatisfactionCocktailsRestlessnessMiddle AgedWestern WorldDerangedForthcoming
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“It may well be that an analysis of figures would reveal a law - the duration of a marriage is inversely proportional to the cost of the wedding. Or, to put it another way, any union celebrated with personalized toasting flutes is doomed.”

WayWellsMayLawFiguresCostUnionsAnalysisWeddingDoomedAnother WayDurationFlutesPersonalized
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“However, the serious seeker of detachment will have to embrace the Holy Trinity of Ss - Solitude, Stillness and Silence - and reject the new religion of Commotionism, which believes that the meaning of life is constant company, movement and noise.”

BelieveLife IsSilenceCompanyMovementSeriousHolySolitudeEmbraceConstantNoiseMeaning Of LifeRejectsStillnessSeekersDetachmentTrinityHoly Trinity
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“The talent for self-justification is surely the finest flower of human evolution, the greatest achievement of the human brain. When it comes to justifying actions, every human being acquires the intelligence of an Einstein, the imagination of a Shakespeare, and the subtlety of a Jesuit.”

HumansSelfActionImaginationHuman BeingsBrainTalentFlowerEvolutionAchievementAcquireJustificationFinestSubtletyHuman BrainHuman EvolutionGreatest AchievementJesuitSelf Justification
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“Being constantly the hub of a network of potential interruptions provides the excitement and importance of crisis management. As well as the false sense of efficiency in multitasking, there is the false sense of urgency in multi-interrupt processing.”

WellsImportanceManagementCrisisExcitementEfficiencyUrgencyProcessingInterruptionsMultitaskingHubSense Of UrgencyCrisis ManagementMulti Tasking
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“It is not possible to be original by trying to be original - those who attempt this in the arts will be merely avant-garde. Originality is the product of an impulse to intense and overwhelming that it bursts the conventions and produces something new - again more by accident than design.”

TryingArtDesignProduceProductsOriginalsAccidentsIntenseImpulseSomething NewOverwhelmingConventionsOriginalityAvant Garde
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“The 1970s was the decade of liberation, of anger at injustice and demands for recognition and rights. But over time, the demand for specific rights degraded into a generalized sense of entitlement, the demand for specific recognition into a generalized demand for attention and the anger at specific injustice into a generalized feeling of grievance and resentment. The result is a culture of entitlement, attention-seeking and complaint.”

FeelingsCultureResultsAttentionRightsDemandInjusticeSeekingDecadesRecognitionLiberationResentmentComplaintsEntitlementGrievanceSense Of EntitlementAttention Seeking
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“Imagine someone sitting alone in a room without television, radio, computer or phone and with the door closed and the blinds down. This person must be a dangerous lunatic or a prisoner sentenced to solitary confinement. If a free agent, then a panty-sniffing loser shunned by society, or a psycho planning to return to college with an automatic weapon and a backpack full of ammo.”

Solitude
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