The best literary works often arise from an author’s personal tragedy. Such is “A Grief Observed,” a book that shows how loss can unravel your entire life. C. S. Lewis (November 29, 1898– November 22, 1963) wrote it after losing his wife, Joy Davidman, to cancer. At the time of her death, they had been … Read more
“It has often been remarked that there is a side at which genius and madness touch, and even pass over into each other, and indeed poetical inspiration has been called a kind of madness: ‘amabilis insania,’ Horace calls it,” Arthur Schopenhauer famously wrote in “The World as Will and Representation.” Poetic amabilis insania descended on … Read more
“In every act observe the things which come first, and those which follow it; and so proceed to the act,” writes Epictetus in his famous manual Enchiridion. “If you do not, at first you will approach it with alacrity, without having thought of the things which will follow; but afterward, when certain base (ugly) things … Read more
“I love the stillness of early summer evenings downtown … the entire stretch along the quiet docks all of this comforts me with sadness when on these evenings I enter the solitude of their ensemble,” Fernando Pessoa wrote while finding calm amid uncertainty and disquiet. “In this moment of seeing, I suddenly find myself isolated, … Read more