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Quote by Susan Sontag

“The truth of history crowds out the truth of fiction - as if one were obliged to choose between them.”

Quote by Susan Sontag

Book:At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches

Work

At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches

This volume compiles a selection of essays and speeches that delve into a range of topics, offering insights and perspectives on contemporary issues and philosophical musings. more

Author

Susan Sontag was an American writer, critic, and photographer. Known for her unique literary style and profound thinking, her work spans various fields including literature, art, and politics. Born on January 16, 1933, she passed away on December 28, 2004. more

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“Illnesses have always been used as metaphors to enliven charges that a society was corrupt or unjust.”

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“Fatal illness has always been viewed as a test of moral character, but in the nineteenth century there is a great reluctance to let anybody flunk the test.”

Character Moral Century Tests Illness Nineteenth Century Reluctance Moral Character

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“Any disease that is treated as a mystery and acutely enough feared will be felt to be morally, if not literally, contagious.”

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“Images anesthetize. An event known through photographs certainly becomes more real than it would have been if one had never seen the photographs ... But after repeated exposure to images it also becomes less real. ... 'concerned' photography has done at least as much to deaden conscience as to arouse it.”

Ifs Has Beens Real Done Known Events Photography Conscience Concerned Photograph Exposure

Author:Susan Sontag

“People tend to become cynical about even the most appalling crisis if it seems to be dragging on, failing to come to term.”

People Ifs Seems Term Failing Crisis Cynical Impatience

Book:Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings

Source: Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings

“America was founded on a genocide, on the unquestioned assumption of the right of white Europeans to exterminate a resident, technologically backward, colored population in order to take over the continent.”

America Order White United States Population Assumption Genocide Continents Residents

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“Decline of the letter, the rise of the notebook! One doesn't write to others any more; one writes to oneself.”

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Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

Source: As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

“Superficial to understand the journal as just a receptable for one's private, secret thoughts - like a confidante who is deaf, dumb, and illiterate. In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself. ... The journal is a vehicle for my sense of selfhood. It represents me as emotionally and spiritually independent. Therefore (alas) it does not simply record my actual, daily life but rather - in many cases - offers an alternative to it.”

Persons Doe Secret Cases Records Offers Independent Alternatives Dumb Daily Life Vehicle Journal Superficial Alas Deaf Sense Of Self Illiterate Journaling Keeping A Journal Secret Thoughts

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“A good listener: a physical presence that is warm, alert, intelligent - more important than any words.”

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Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

Source: As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

“writers are makers, not just transmitters, of myths. Literature offers not only myths but counter-myths, just as life offers counter-experiences - experiences that confound what you thought you thought, or felt, or believed.”

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Author:Susan Sontag