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Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag Quotes

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Famous Susan Sontag Quotes

“It's not 'natural' to speak well, eloquently, in an interesting, articulate way. People living in groups, families, communes say little - have few verbal means. Eloquence - thinking in words - is a byproduct of solitude, deracination, a heightened painful individuality. In groups, it's more natural to sing, to dance, to pray: given, rather than invented (individual) speech.”

PeopleThinkingWayWellsMeanLittlesIndividualSpeakGivenNaturalInterestingGroupsPrayingSolitudeSpeechIndividualityPainfulEloquenceCommunes
Book:As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Diaries 1964-1980
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“Intelligence is not necessarily a good thing, something to value or cultivate. It's more like a fifth wheel - necessary or desirable when things break down. When things go well, it's better to be stupid ... Stupidity is as much a value as intelligence.”

WellsValuesBreakStupidGood ThingsStupidityWheelsDesirableBreaking DownFifth
Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980
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“A photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence. Like a wood fire in a room, photographs-especially those of people, of distant landscapes and faraway cities, of the vanished past-are incitements to reverie. The sense of the unattainable that can be evoked by photographs feeds directly into the erotic feelings of those for whom desirability is enhanced by distance.”

PeopleFeelingsPastRoomsCitiesFireDistancePhotographWoodsAbsenceLandscapeEroticTokensUnattainablePseudoReverieDesirabilityIncitement
Book:On photography
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“I was enthralled and moved by Azar Nafisi's account of how she defied, and helped others to defy, radical Islam's war against women. Her memoir contains important and properly complex reflections about the ravages of theocracy, about thoughtfulness, and about the ordeals of freedom-as well as a stirring account of the pleasures and deepening of consciousness that result from an encounter with great literature and with an inspired teacher.”

WellsImportantWarLiteraturePleasureResultsConsciousnessTeacherReflectionAccountsMovedComplexesIslamInspiredMemoirRadicalEncountersStirringOrdealsThoughtfulnessTheocracyRadical IslamGreat Literature
Author:Susan Sontag
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“A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world. That means trying to understand, take in, connect with, what wickedness human beings are capable of; and not be corrupted - made cynical, superficial - by this understanding.”

ThinkingWorldTryingHumansMeanMadeUnderstandingHuman BeingsPayAttentionCapablePay AttentionCynicalSuperficialWickedness
Book:Susan Sontag: Ansprachen aus Anlass der Verleihung
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“The ratio of authentic literature to trash in pornography may be somewhat lower than the ratio of novels of genuine literary meritto the entire volume of sub-literary fiction produced for mass taste. But it is probably not lower than, for instance, that of another somewhat shady sub-genre with a few first-rate books to its credit, science fiction.”

FirstsMayBookLiteratureFictionNovelTasteMassScience FictionRateCreditGenuineInstanceGenreVolumePornographyTrashRatiosShady
Author:Susan Sontag
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