“Symons remarked that the most common and unhelpful illusion plaguing those who came to see him was the idea that they ought somehow, in the normal course of events, to have intuited long before they had finished their degrees, started families, bought houses and risen to the top of law firms - what they should properly be doing with their lives. They were tormented by a residual notion of having through some error or stupidity on their part missed out on their true calling.” ShouldLongIdeasLawCoursesHouseCommonEventsOughtCallingDegreesNormalIllusionErrorsNotionStupidityFinishedFirmRisenResidualLaw Firms Author:Alain de Botton
“Normal children of both sexes and all cultures will follow a more or less standard and universal developmental pattern and timetable, and reach approximately the same level of development at maturity. While a particular culture's need and expectations and teaching will shape the course of development and affect adult capabilities to some degree, normal individuals, whatever their native culture, if transplanted and taught, could learn to meet the normal demands of their adapted cultures.” IfsNeedsChildrenCultureCoursesIndividualSexLevelsTeachingTaughtParticularDevelopmentShapesDemandDegreesNormalStandardsExpectationsAdultsUniversalPatternsMaturityNativeCapabilityAdaptedDevelopmentalTimetables Book:Daughters: from infancy to independence Source: Daughters: from infancy to independence
“With the rise of industrialism, words like 'normal' and 'defective,' words that had once only been used to refer to things, began to be used to refer to people. ... In the industrial age, a new degree of uniformity was expected of people. The rhythms and pacing of life could no longer be organic. People became expected to function like things.” PeopleAgeUsedDegreesNormalFunctionExpectedRhythmUniformityDefectivePacing Author:Anne Finger
“Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s (God’s) ground…He [God] made the pleasure: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy [God] has produced, at at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He [God] has forbidden.” WayHumansMadeFormCan DoForgetPleasureEnemyProduceHealthyDegreesNormalResearchNever ForgetSatisfyingForbiddenScrewtape Letters Author:C. S. Lewis
“Shoot, I must have lived such a doggoned sheltered life as a normal, independent American up there in the Last Frontier, schooled with only public education and a lowly state university degree, because obviously I haven't learned enough to dismiss common sense.” StatesEnoughLastsCommonHavensDegreesNormalIndependentUniversityCommon SenseFrontiersSchooledPublic EducationUniversity DegreesSheltered Lives Author:Sarah Palin
“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” PeopleLifeChildrenFactsRunningJobsBeautifulLife IsGrowsLordGrowing UpSuccessfulImagineJourneyDegreesWasteNormalToughSpeedTricksDustSmokeBlissDullMutualImagine ThatDelayThrillingLife Is LikeShoutingBeefRailTolerationOld TimeVistasSuccessful Marriage Author:Jenkin Lloyd Jones