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Quote by Jennifer Pierre

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Jennifer Pierre

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“I want you to know, if you ever read this, there was a time when I would rather have had you by my side than any one of these words; I would rather have had you by my side than all the blue in the world. But now you are talking as if love were a consolation. Simone Weil warned otherwise. 'Love is not consolation,' she wrote. 'It is light.' All right then, let me try to rephrase. When I was alive, I aimed to be a student not of longing but of light.”

LoveLight
Book:Bluets
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“All right," I said, still wishing we could talk about Zima rather than me. "But what practical difference does it make whether the artificial memory is inside my head or outside?" "All the difference in the world," Zima said. "The memories stored in the AM are fixed for eternity. You can query it as often as you like, but it will never enhance or omit a single detail. But the implants work differently. They're designed to integrate seamlessly with biological memory, to the point where the recipient can't tell the difference. For that very reason they're necessarily plastic, malleable, subject to error and distortion." "Fallible," I said. "But without fallibility there is no art. And without art there is no truth.”

ArtTruthMemory
Book:Zima Blue and Other Stories
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“Americans have been slow to identify mediocrity because mediocre art simultaneously embraces virtues which both progressives and conservatives hold dear. In order to condemn mediocrity, one must believe that surviving the test of time is a very reliable sign of goodness, and very few persons on the political left would agree to this premise. However, condemning mediocrity also depends upon admitting that, regardless of other boons it might offer society, capitalism has not been good for art, and very few conservatives would admit this.”

ArtConservatismGood Taste
Book:Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity
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“While Spotify openly publishes user listening activity, the “Private Session” option allows users to listen to music they think stupid, immature, or embarrassing apart from their friends’ knowledge. The “Private Session” feature on Spotify subtly reveals how intensely we want our friends to think we have good taste, and yet we are unwilling to suffer any diminution of comfort or pleasure to achieve this distinction. We want to enjoy sensual trash, but we do not want to be held accountable for it.”

ArtBeautyGood Taste
Book:Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity
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“When progressives and Christians speak of “nature,” they are not referring to the same thing. Within the framework of Christian thought, nature can only be understood in its relationship with the supernatural... In cutting nature off from supernature, the Enlightenment inaugurated a long, slowly unfurling contempt for both nature and supernature which reaches new heights every year.”

ArtBeautyProgressGood Taste
Book:Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity
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“Whether a man is concerned with kings, paupers, plants, pandas, minerals, models, math, production, propulsion, or prostitutes, when he learns what usually happens— what usually works, what usually hurts, what is usually said, what is usually felt— a man has discovered something about that thing’s nature. When a man learns that holding very hot things is usually painful, he learns something about his fleshly nature. When a boy learns that lying to his mother usually leads to fear and remorse, he learns something about his spiritual nature. When we observe that dogs usually become ill after eating chocolate, we learn something about canine nature. Tendency and propensity invariably teach us about nature.”

ArtNatureBeautySupernature
Book:Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity
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“Apart from a belief in the supernatural, it has become very hard to distinguish the natural from the unnatural. Without Heaven, what is the difference between Hell and Earth? Without God, how can the human and the demonic be told apart? More than two hundred years after the French Revolution, the only people who attack a position or practice as “unnatural” are those who believe in God, as well, because the concept of nature only makes sense as an intermediary between the supernatural and the unnatural.”

ArtBeautyGood Taste
Book:Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity
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“The problem with “special” things, though, is that they do not last. As a category of being, “special” cannot help being vampiric, and so “special” is really the opposite of “holy.” Holy things beget holy things. Because holiness shares in the boundless nature of God, there is always more holiness to go around. Holy water consecrates all that it touches as holy. Holy places confer their holiness on the activities that transpire therein. As a bishop consecrates a deacon to the position of priest, or a priest consecrates the romance of bride and groom, holy men may confer their holiness on others. Special things cannot confer their specialness on other things, though. One special thing is naturally at war with other special things. Holiness is an open system, which means a holy thing can make a common thing holy without losing its own holiness. Specialness is a closed system, though, for one thing cannot become special without devouring or absorbing the specialness of another. The goal of a new blockbuster is to make old blockbusters look dull by comparison. The goal of new clothing styles is to make old clothing styles look dowdy by comparison. The goal of a fashionable new church is to make old churches seem dull and conventional by comparison. The goal of new pornography is to make old pornography look chaste by comparison. The goal of the latest KFC sandwich is to make the last KFC sandwich seem flavorless by comparison.”

ArtTraditionArties
Book:Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity
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