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One of the many interesting challenges nature presents us is its apparent disinterest in maintaining the order humans crave.

John Gardner

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John Gardner
Age: 49 †
Born: 1933
Born: July 21
Died: 1982
Died: September 14
Biographer
Essayist
Journalist
Literary Critic
Non-Fiction Writer
Novelist
Translator
Writer
Kingston
John Champlin Gardner Jr.
Maintaining
Challenges
Interesting
Order
Nature
Disinterest
Humans
Apparent
Many
Presents
Crave

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A common and usually unfortunate answer is “Write about what you know.” Nothing can be more limiting to the imagination, nothing is quicker to turn on the psyche's censoring devices and distortion systems, than trying to write truthfully.
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The image-managers encourage the individual to fashion himself into a smooth coin, negotiable in any market.
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What art ought to do is tell stories which are moment-by-moment wonderful, which are true to human experience, and which in no way explain human experience.
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The citizen can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one else can.
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We know that where community exists in confers upon its members identity, a sense of belonging, and a measure of security. . . . Communities are the ground-level generators and preservers of values and ethical systems.
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When I was a child I truly loved: Unthinking love as calm and deep As the North Sea. But I have lived, And now I do not sleep.
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Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see.
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It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish, flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity.
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