Book of Lead

"It is the strongest tales that survive their telling."

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:18:37 +1200

“It is the strongest tales that survive their telling.”

- From “Labyrinths and clues.” by Alan Wall http://fortnightlyreview.co.uk/2012/03/labyrinth/

"Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. Power is never the..."

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:49:28 +1200

“Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together. When we say of somebody that he is “in power” we actually refer to his being empowered by a certain number of people to act in their name.”

- From On Violence, Hannah Arendt.

"I’ve noticed,” said Ossama, “that earthquakes always occur in the poorest regions..."

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:26:47 +1200

““I’ve noticed,” said Ossama, “that earthquakes always occur in the poorest regions of the world. One has to wonder if nature doesn’t despise the poor.””

- From The Colors of Infamy, Albert Cossery.

"They seemed to know what most men only guess at. Somewhere out among the swaying grasses of their..."

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:44:50 +1200

“They seemed to know what most men only guess at. Somewhere out among the swaying grasses of their estates, or in the least visited homes of their rambling homesteads, they had learned the true stories of their lives and known the men they might have been.”

- From The Plains, Gerald Murnane.

morbidsouls: Perseus statue.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:52:32 +1200

morbidsouls:

Perseus statue.

"Flame burns, rain sinks into the cracks And they all go to rack ruin beneath the thud of the years."

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:55:49 +1200

“Flame burns, rain sinks into the cracks
And they all go to rack ruin beneath the thud of the years.”

- From ‘Homage To Sextus Propertius - I’ by Ezra Pound

Drawing by Victor Hugo.

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:03:07 +1200

Drawing by Victor Hugo.

From Calligraphie Arabe Vivante by Hassan Massoudy (1981...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:01:03 +1200

From Calligraphie Arabe Vivante by Hassan Massoudy (1981 edition). Via but does it float.

A section of A Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers, a...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:04:00 +1200

A section of A Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers, a 12th-century painting by Song Dynasty artist Wang Ximeng. Found in the Wikipedia entry for Art.

"Is this Barcelona? he asks."

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:54:37 +1200

“Is this Barcelona? he asks.”

- From Antwerp, Roberto Bolano.

Still-Life, Jan Davidsz. de Heem.

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:03:44 +1200

Still-Life, Jan Davidsz. de Heem.

Still-life with Wine Glass and Silver Bowl, Pieter Claesz

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 11:29:23 +1200

Still-life with Wine Glass and Silver Bowl, Pieter Claesz

"Each person must, on some level, take himself as the calibration point for normalcy, must assume..."

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:26:57 +1200

“Each person must, on some level, take himself as the calibration point for normalcy, must assume that the room of his own mind is not, cannot be, entirely opaque to him. Perhaps this is what we mean by sanity: that, whatever our self-admitted eccentricities might be, we are not the villains of our own stories.”

- From Open City, Teju Cole.

"Officials in key parts of the Obama administration are increasingly convinced that sanctions will..."

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:59:47 +1200

“Officials in key parts of the Obama administration are increasingly convinced that sanctions will not deter Tehran from pursuing its nuclear programme, and believe that the US will be left with no option but to launch an attack on Iran or watch Israel do so.”

- US officials believe Iran sanctions will fail, making military action likely by Chris McGreal, the guardian.

"Westerners are amazed at the simplicity of Japanese rooms, perceiving in them no more than ashen..."

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:53:57 +1200

“Westerners are amazed at the simplicity of Japanese rooms, perceiving in them no more than ashen walls bereft of ornament. Their reaction is understandable, but it betrays a failure to comprehend the mystery of shadows.”

- In praise of shadows, Junichiro Tanizaki

"All I can come up with are stray sentences, he said, maybe because reality seems to me like a swarm..."

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:04:57 +1200

“All I can come up with are stray sentences, he said, maybe because reality seems to me like a swarm of stray sentences. Desolation must be something like that, said the hunchback.”

- Antwerp, Roberto Bolano

"Now a book lives as long as it is unfathomed. Once it is fathomed, it dies at once. It is an amazing..."

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:59:08 +1200

“Now a book lives as long as it is unfathomed. Once it is fathomed, it dies at once. It is an amazing thing, how utterly different a book will be, if I read it again after five years. Some books gain immensely, they are a new thing. They are so astonishingly different, they make a man question his own identity. Again, other books lose immensely. I read War and Peace once more, and was amazed to find how little it moved me, I was almost aghast to think of the raptures I had once felt, and now felt no more.”

- From Apocalypse by D.H. Lawrence. Via Biblioklept.

Basket of fruit, Caravaggio

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:22:34 +1200

Basket of fruit, Caravaggio

"She was getting sweaty because the windows were up as these words tumbled out of her mouth: you..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:35:32 +1200

“She was getting sweaty because the windows were up as these words tumbled out of her mouth: you think if you take the driver into Chicken Republic to eat at the same table as you then you have done a good thing for him but you have not because it is not about his own well being but about your own well being, and you are too self righteous to see that you will only make him uncomfortable if he sits with you and you will change nothing in his life, and just in case you don’t know it, your father is lying in his grave, looking at this person you have become and he is tearing his hair out and eating it!”

- From Quality Street by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The Simonists, Dante’s Commedia, by Priamo della Quercia.

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:18:56 +1200

The Simonists, Dante’s Commedia, by Priamo della Quercia.