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Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living. But the over-examined life makes you wish you were dead. Given the alternative, I'd rather be living.

Saul Bellow

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Saul Bellow
Age: 89 †
Born: 1915
Born: June 10
Died: 2005
Died: April 5
Author
Essayist
Novelist
University Teacher
Writer
Solomon Bellows
Dead
Rather
Wish
Unexamined
Living
Examined
Given
Socrates
Makes
Alternative
Life
Alternatives
Worth

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Associate with the noblest people you can find read the best books live with the mighty but learn to be happy alone.
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The main reason for rewriting is not to achieve a smooth surface, but to discover the inner truth of your characters.
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I've discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, 'To hell with you.'
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A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life.
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Fun comes hard - like, alas, its prarens, pleasure and happiness, whom we have to pursue.
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It is sometimes necessary to repeat what all know. All mapmakers should place the Mississippi in the same location and avoid originality.
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I blame myself for not often enough seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. Somewhere in his journals, Dostoyevky remarks that a writer can begin anywhere, at the most commonplace thing, scratch around in it long enough, pry and dig away long enough, and lo!, soon he will hit upon the marvelous.
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Open discussion of many major public questions has for some time now been taboo. We can't open our mouths without being denounced as racists, misogynists, supremacists, imperialists or fascists. As for the media, they stand ready to trash anyone so designated.
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And I'm convinced that knowing the names of things braces people up.
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To tell the truth I never had it so good. But I lacked the strength of character to bear such joy.
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The best and purest human beings, from the beginning of time, have understood that life is sacred.
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In an age of madness, to expect to be untouched by madness is a form of madness. But the pursuit of sanity can be a form of madness, too
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Readiness to answer all questions is the infallible sign of stupidity.
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One must bear in mind the odd angle or slant that the rays of love have to take in order to reach a heart like mine.
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I have, perhaps, a slave-like constitution which is too easily restrained by bonds it then becomes rebellious and bursts out in a comic revolution.
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If I had a child of school age, I would send him to one of the Waldorf Schools.
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My face too blind, my mind too limited, my instincts too narrow. But this intensity, doesn't it mean anything?
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I don’t actually take much stock in the collapsing culture bit. I’m beginning to see it instead as the conduct of life without input from your soul.
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