On necessity

Necessity also creates and compounds error.

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Fail

If I am to fail, let me fail
of too much reason rather than too little.

Amok

Love is desire run amok.

Preference

Preference is destiny.

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We prefer

We prefer the world we saw
when we were as we preferred to be.

Good

Good must vastly outnumber bad if it is to win.

Understanding

We understand little of the world, but the world understands less of us.

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Hearth Bread

Finally made a decent baguette-style bread (from this recipe).

On worship

Worship invariably diminishes the worshipper.

A similarly narrow purpose (Saunders)

This world-making via thinking is natural, sane, Darwinian:  we do it to survive.  Is there harm in it?  Well, yes, because we think in the same way that we hear or see:  within a narrow, survival-enhancing range.  We don't see or hear all that might be seen or heard but only that which is helpful for us to see and hear.  Our thoughts are similarly restricted and have a similarly narrow purpose:  to help the thinker thrive.

George Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

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The absurdities (Szymborska)

I prefer the absurdity of writing poems
to the absurdity of not writing poems.

Wisława Szymborska from "Possibilities"

Criticism

If everything can be criticized,
what, then, is the threshold for criticism?

Incredibly similar (Hoel)

The result of the academic pipeline is that contemporary writers, despite a surface-level diversity of race and gender that is welcomingly different than previous ages, are incredibly similar in their beliefs and styles, moreso than writers in the past.

Erik Hoel

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Regret

We spend our lives demanding that something happen, and then regretting most of the things that do.

Misfortune

My greatest misfortune was not to meet people like me.

Funny

Funny should be the prelude to true.

Snobbery

Snobbery is a sign of poor breeding.

Bias

Those who take pride in celebrating difference often also insist on it, illustrating the truism that bias will out.

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Solitary

The biggest problem with being a solitary scholar is that there is no one to pass me a note in class, no one to play with at recess—no recess—and no one to cheat off my homework.

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Need

It is hard to concede that what you need may not be what others need.

Memories

Memories are enemies.

Too many

You shall know you have acquired too many memories when they come to seem more a burden than an aid.

Sometimes

Sometimes we want to hear, not see.
Sometimes it's okay to tell, not show.
It's called "storytelling" for a reason.

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Better

Better a lousy poet
than a genius anything else.

Everything else

Humans sing ballads;
everything else plays free jazz.

What happened

Everything that was meant to be didn't happen. Only what happened happened.

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On sorrow

Sorrow is not the best fuel
but it gives the most mileage.