When I read a book, there are phrases I want to remember, words I want to look up and places it takes me...
HAPPINESS, by Will Ferguson
'You know, kid, ethics isn't about choosing between right and wrong; it's about choosing between grey and grey. It's about choosing between two equally desirable but mutually exclusive courses of action. Freedom or security? Courage or comfort? Self-examination or blissful happiness?'
'entire feelings, entire concepts, went unexpressed, simply because no word [in the English language] had ever been coined to capture them':
mono-no-awaré: 'the sadness of things', a Japanese term that defines the ever-present pathos that lurks just below the surface of life; the sadness at the core of all things
mokita: from the Kiriwina language of New Guinea, meaning 'the truth which no one speaks'
schadenfreude: German, 'the pleasure one feels from witnessing another's misfortunes'
moksha: Hindu concept which represents liberation from wrong desire
ah-un: the unspoken communication of old friends and lovers (Japanese)
razbliuto: a Russian word meaning 'the feelings you have for someone you once loved, but now do not'
tjotjog: Javanese, 'a unique and harmonious convergence of human affairs'
kekau: Indonesian word meaning 'to awaken from a nightmare'
mbuki-mvuki: a Bantu work meaning 'to shed one's clothing spontaneously and dance naked in joy'; a word of doing, of letting go, of raising hell
Ragnarök: Old Norse, the name the pre-Christian Norse gave to the end of their mythical cycle, during which the cosmos is destroyed and is subsequently re-created; 'the Doom of the Gods'
Tibetan Book of the Dead : .pdf
'Do not go gentle into that good night//Rage, rage against the dying of the light.' Dylan Thomas
'Do I contradict myself? very well then, I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.' (Song of Myself) Walt Whitman
palimpsest (\ˈpa-ləm(p)-ˌsest): 'a parchment that had been written on and erased, again and again, leaving only shadow images'; something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface; 'Canada … is a palimpsest, an overlay of classes and generations' Margaret Atwood
cryptozoology: the study of and search for animals and especially legendary animals (as Sasquatch) usually in order to evaluate the possibility of their existence
crofter: a person who rents and works a small farm, especially in Scotland or N England
solipsist/solipsism: the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist; extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic
zeitgeist: the Zeitgeist (spirit of the age or spirit of the time) is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time
dum vivimus, vivamus: 'while we live, let us live to the fullest'
nemo saltat sobrius: 'sober men don't dance'
a priori: ('from the earlier') knowledge or justification is independent of experience, ie. 'all bachelors are unmarried'
finis coronat opus: 'the end crowns the work'; a man's final acts reveal the purpose of his life
HAPPINESS, by Will Ferguson
'You know, kid, ethics isn't about choosing between right and wrong; it's about choosing between grey and grey. It's about choosing between two equally desirable but mutually exclusive courses of action. Freedom or security? Courage or comfort? Self-examination or blissful happiness?'
'entire feelings, entire concepts, went unexpressed, simply because no word [in the English language] had ever been coined to capture them':
mono-no-awaré: 'the sadness of things', a Japanese term that defines the ever-present pathos that lurks just below the surface of life; the sadness at the core of all things
mokita: from the Kiriwina language of New Guinea, meaning 'the truth which no one speaks'
schadenfreude: German, 'the pleasure one feels from witnessing another's misfortunes'
moksha: Hindu concept which represents liberation from wrong desire
ah-un: the unspoken communication of old friends and lovers (Japanese)
razbliuto: a Russian word meaning 'the feelings you have for someone you once loved, but now do not'
tjotjog: Javanese, 'a unique and harmonious convergence of human affairs'
kekau: Indonesian word meaning 'to awaken from a nightmare'
mbuki-mvuki: a Bantu work meaning 'to shed one's clothing spontaneously and dance naked in joy'; a word of doing, of letting go, of raising hell
Ragnarök: Old Norse, the name the pre-Christian Norse gave to the end of their mythical cycle, during which the cosmos is destroyed and is subsequently re-created; 'the Doom of the Gods'
Tibetan Book of the Dead : .pdf
'Do not go gentle into that good night//Rage, rage against the dying of the light.' Dylan Thomas
'Do I contradict myself? very well then, I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.' (Song of Myself) Walt Whitman
palimpsest (\ˈpa-ləm(p)-ˌsest): 'a parchment that had been written on and erased, again and again, leaving only shadow images'; something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface; 'Canada … is a palimpsest, an overlay of classes and generations' Margaret Atwood
cryptozoology: the study of and search for animals and especially legendary animals (as Sasquatch) usually in order to evaluate the possibility of their existence
crofter: a person who rents and works a small farm, especially in Scotland or N England
solipsist/solipsism: the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist; extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic
zeitgeist: the Zeitgeist (spirit of the age or spirit of the time) is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time
dum vivimus, vivamus: 'while we live, let us live to the fullest'
nemo saltat sobrius: 'sober men don't dance'
a priori: ('from the earlier') knowledge or justification is independent of experience, ie. 'all bachelors are unmarried'
finis coronat opus: 'the end crowns the work'; a man's final acts reveal the purpose of his life
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