p. 14 It was true: The entire ball game, in terms of both the exam and life, was what you gave attention to vs. what you willed yourself to not.
p. 85 ...that abstruse dullness is actually a much more effective shield than is secrecy.
p. 132 We don't think of ourselves as citizens - parts of something larger to which we have profound responsibilities. We think of ourselves as citizens when it comes to our rights and privileges, but not our responsibilities. We abdicate our civic responsibilities to the government and expect the government, in effect, to legislate morality.
p. 159 I don't remember what I did with all my real attention, what-all it was going towards. I never did anything, but at the same time I could normally never sit still and become aware of what was really going on.
p. 226 If I wanted to matter - even just to myself - I would have to be less free, by deciding to choose in some kind of definite way.
p. 231 ...gentlemen, here is a truth: Enduring tedium over real time in a confined space is what real courage is.... there is no audience.
p. 234 In today's world, boundaries are fixed, and most significant facts have been generated. Gentlemen, the heroic frontier now lies in the ordering and deployment of those facts.
p. 291 It's not just that real memory is fragmentary; I think it's also that overall relevance and meaning are conceptual, while the experiential bits that get locked down and are easiest, years later, to retrieve tend to be sensory.
p. 440 It is the key to modern life. If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish.
p. 458 Well, I would say almost anything you pay close, direct attention to becomes interesting.
p. 548 Drinion is happy. Ability to pay attention. It turns out that bliss - a second-by-second joy + gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious - lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (tax returns, televised golf), and, in waves, a boredom like you've never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it's like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Constant bliss in every atom.
p. 3b It is possible to see the federal government as a parasite feeding on the lifeblood of the taxpayer. But blood is made to circulate, to replenish; it moves or there is death.
p. 7b I do not much care whether you like me - I myself dislike storytellers whose chief concern is that they themselves be liked or thought a clever storyteller.
p. 24b The more extraneous choices, the more hidden the real thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment