“Temper tantrums, however fun they may be to throw, rarely solve whatever problem is causing them.”
—Lemony Snicket (via coello)
December 2011
35 posts
“There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one’s self, the very meaning of one’s soul.”
—Edith Wharton (via ungathering)
November 2011
54 posts
George Orwell’s Rules for Effective Writing →
pickthebrain.com
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.
“
When I started to write it was the ’70s and throughout that decade we didn’t have any problems with book challenges or censorship. It all started really in a big way in 1980 … It came with the election, the presidential election of 1980, and the next day, I’ve been told, the censors were crawling out of the woodwork and challenging, like it’s our turn now, and we’re going to say what we don’t want our children to read.
But I think it’s more than that. It’s what we don’t want our children to know, what we don’t want to talk to our children about; and if they read it, they’ll know it, or they’ll question it.
” — Young adult lit author Judy Blume on the rise of censorship in school libraries over the last several decades. (via npr)2 high school friend engagements in the same day (congrats, girls!)
my mind is a little blown. i forget that we’re grown ups now. isn’t this just some kind of vacation? we’re supposed to go to sherman’s class next right? or ms. b’s?
i’ve always had trouble with this growing up thing. i’ve always been rather slow at it. it’s not that i’m jealous that people are getting engaged, far from it. it’s just weird that we’re all, you know…old enough to be doing these things.
i’ll stop rambling and do homework now. that’s something that won’t change :p
“But I think it’s very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person.”
—Olivia Wilde (via timsdoppelganger)
“Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.”
—Aldous Huxley, ‘Brave New World’ (via musicwordscolourslights)
“Everybody says sex is obscene. The only true obscenity is war.”
—Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (via larmoyante)
“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”
—J.K. Rowling (via tantum)
“Sexual desire is not a desire for sensations. It is a desire for a person: and I mean a person, not his or her body, conceived as an object in the physical world, but the person conceived as an incarnate subject, in whom the light of self-consciousness shines and who confronts me eye to eye, and I to I.”
—Roger Scruton (via graffitiesprit)
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new at all.”
—Abraham Lincoln (via pavorst)
“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.”
—Jonathan Safran Foer (via cyrtenes)
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
—Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (via leadmetotruth)
“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.”
—Jane Austen (via wandery)
“Oftentimes. when people are miserable, they will want to make other people miserable, too. But it never helps.”
—Lemony Snicket (via coello)
“Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.”
—Jonathan Safran Foer (via talkativolive)
ok. slightly more satisfied. except for my clothing situation. it kind of looks like i just want everyone to see what kind of underwear i wear. i need to just get a dresser, even a shitty cheap one. maybe for xmas…
i’m pretty sure i will never ever be satisfied with the furniture arrangement in my room. if i have my bed by the window, it’s too cold. if i have my bed by the opposite wall, one of my electrical plugs is blocked. it’s in the way of the door if it’s on the other side of the room, and those stupid radiator poles THAT DON’T EMIT ANY HEAT are in my way if i put it in the other corner. same deal with the desk. i still haven’t bought an actual dresser or anything to put my clothes in; they’re folded up in boxes at the foot of my bed (because that’s all that will fit there). i’m about to try making the bed sideways against the door’s wall, even though it blocks the electrical plug that i use for my hair dryer. i’m hoping that maybe the surge protector will extend far enough for me to keep it there, instead of using the one other one in this room. and i’m going to do it right now, because it’s midnight and i’m super awake.
today i am...
skipping my afternoon class because all we are doing is watching a movie, and i need to do laundry anyway. at the laundromat, because the washer in our building is broken. again. so i have to drag all my clothes (and blankets and sheets, cause why not), down to the laundromat and pay like 20 bucks to get my clothes cleaned. i thought we got a place with on site laundry so we wouldn’t have to do that?
yet another instance where i miss having a car. hopefully i’ll be able to get this all done in time to do some writing for my monday class (20 pages of a novella due!) and maybe get to my night class in time. hopefully.
“What is waiting for me in the direction I don’t take?”
—Jack Kerouac (via jayarrarr)
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”
—Neil Gaiman (via martinaboone)
“If it’s a story, even in my head, I must be telling it to someone. You don’t tell a story only to yourself. There’s always someone else. Even when there is no one.”
—Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (via boysforbreakfast)
“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”
—George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones (via bookshavepores)
“Don’t ever apologize to an author for buying something in paperback, or taking it out from a library (that’s what they’re there for. Use your library). Don’t apologize to this author for buying books second hand, or getting them from bookcrossing or borrowing a friend’s copy. What’s important to me is that people read the books and enjoy them, and that, at some point in there, the book was bought by someone. And that people who like things, tell other people. The most important thing is that people read… ”
—Neil Gaiman (via bookshavepores)
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
—Roald Dahl (via c0mets)
“I can’t go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then.”
—Lewis Carroll (via quote-book)
“We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.”
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment (via pavorst)
“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
—Stephen King (via booksandnerds)
i have purchased airline tickets to go home in january. you have no clue how excited i am about this.
now i’m off to becky’s for some fun times with the lovely mischief managed people. party!
dear tumblr,
stop having a search function. it is making it rather difficult for me to get started on the homework i was going to do today.
love,
brit
Jerry Brito: Top ten myths about introverts →
Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.
This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.
Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.
Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.
On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.
Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.
Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.
Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.
Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.
Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.
Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.
