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Quote by Vivian Gornick

Work

Approaching Eye Level

This book delves into the psychological and philosophical aspects of seeing the world from eye level, examining how this perspective shapes our understanding of ourselves and our surroundings. more

Author

Vivian Gornick
Vivian Gornick

Vivian Gornick, born on June 14, 1935, is an American literary critic and writer known for her profound social insights and delicate portrayal of the female experience. more

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“Some days, I enjoy simply sitting outside on the green grass of this golden fairy garden of mine, under the tender sun, as I listen to the car radio playing indie songs in the background, and see the wind slowly stripping down the trees – I swear I could stay in moments like these for a lifetime, I could lay under the winter sun with nothing but sheer peace inside my heart – a peace I have craved for a long time.”

“I read, I daydreamed, I wandered the city so ardently in part because it was a means of wandering in my thoughts, and my thoughts were runaways, constantly taking me away in the midst of the conversation, the meal, the class, the work, the play, the dance, the party. They were a place I wanted to be, thinking, musing, analyzing, imagining, hoping, tracing connections, integrating new ideas, but they grabbed me and ran with me from the situations at hand over and over. I disappeared in the middle of conversations, sometimes because I was bored but just as often because someone said something so interesting that my mind chased after the idea they offered and lost track of the rest of what they said. I lived in a long reverie for years, went days without much interruption to it, which was one of the gifts of solitude.”

“New prisoners are largely of two kinds -- there are those who for shame, fear or shock wait in fascinated horror to be initiated into the lore of prison life, and there are those who trade on their wretched novelty in order to endear themselves to the community. Leamas did neither of these things. He seemed pleased to despise them all, and they hated him because, like the world outside, he did not need them.”