“He felt the guilt of inaction, of simply waiting while his life went to waste. No one was worth the gift of his life, no one could possibly be worth that. It belonged to him alone, and he did not deserve it either, because he was letting it waste. It was getting away from him and he made no effort to stop it. He did not know how.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“That period had been the peak of his life, though he had not realized it then. It had gone by without time for reflection, ending while he was still thinking things were going to get better.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“The sky darkened, the liquid singing of the blackbirds diminished and ceased, mud hens swam back to shore, climbed up the banks and huddled in the willows. The lights of a farm came on in the brown distance where patches of tule fog lay on the barren muddy fields. A wind came with the darkness, rattling the license plate, and a low, honking flight of geese passed.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“Still he was uncertain. He wondered if everything had gone as it should. Was that all there was to it? Perhaps it had been celebrated out of proportion because there was nothing else to live for.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“He could not bear the thought of training, not only because of the effort he could never summon from himself now, but also because the idea of fighting was disorienting in its repugnance. He felt that everyone at the Lido Gym was insane. One”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“Hoping never done nothing. It wanting that do it. You got to want to win so bad you can taste it. If you want to win bad enough you win.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“Out in the fog, weary, yet buoyant from the drinks, his mind dulled along with his aches and his energy returning, Tully was free of the sense of impending ordeal that had been with him for weeks. He felt whole, self-sufficient, felt his life had at last opened up and that now nothing stood between him and the future's infinite possibilities.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“All I need's a fight and a woman. Then I'm set. I get the fight I'll get the money. I get the money I'll get the woman. There's some women that love you for yourself, but that don't last long.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“Boys, men, old toothless women had run along beside the car when the train was again in motion, calling, offering bananas, guavas, mangoes, paper cones of flavored ice, Jello shimmering on the palm of a hand, lifting something up to him and fumbling his money, running faster to give him his change, or slower, grinning, shrugging, as the train pulled away. Somewhere he had bought half a roasted cow's head and eaten it held by the horn with a newspaper on his lap. What had caused the diarrhea he did not know.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“The white race is in its decline. We started downhill in 1492 when Columbus discovered syphilis.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“At times it was impossible for him to control the praise and predictions that issued from him like thanks, and he was aware of exaggerating; yet he felt a boxer needed someone who believed in him, and if it were true that confidence could win fights, then he could not be sure his overestimates were really that at all. Guiding”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
“Profoundly moved, he kissed the lax waiting mouth with exquisite unhappiness.”
― Leonard Gardner, quote from Fat City
Leonard Gardner
Born place: Stockton, California, The United States
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“إن النظام القانوني بمعناه الضيق يخدم نظام ما بعد الشمولية بنفس الطريقة المباشرة. وهو لا يختلف في ذلك عن باقي المجالات الأخرى لعالم "القوانين والمحاذير".
لكنه في الوقت نفسه يشير إلى طريقة هذه الخدمة في بعض مستوياته بدرجات مختلفة من الوضوح. هذه الطريقة التي تُقرّب وظيفته من وظيفة الأيدلوجية على نحو صارخ, إن لم يكن يجعل من النظام جزءاً لا يتجزأ من تلك الأيدلوجية.”
― Václav Havel, quote from The Power of the Powerless
“Rather than reacting with our usual attachment or aversion, taking everything personally and feeling the need to do something about it, we relax into the experience, seeing it clearly and letting it be as it is.”
― Noah Levine, quote from Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries
“The first commendment of hte post 1970s meritocracy can be sumed up as follows: "Thou shall provide equality of opportunity to all, regardless of race, gender, or sexual oritentation, but worry not about equality of outcomes." But what we've seen time and time again is that the two aren't so neatly separated. If you don't concern yourself at all with equality fo outcomes, you will, over time, produce a system with horrendous inequality of opportunity. This is the paradox of meritocracy: It can only truly come to flower in a society that starts out with a relatively high degree of equality. So if you want meritocracy, work for equality. Because it is only in a society which values equality of actual outcomes, one that promotes the commonweal and social solidarity, that equal opportunity and earned mobility can flourish.”
― Christopher L. Hayes, quote from Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy
“For the next few weeks, we are going to perform scenes from the plays we read, starting with the age-old classic Romeo and Juliet.”
― Kaitlyn Davis, quote from Ignite
“Plato says that as one learns to love, the image of any specific beloved can be left behind for knowledge of the Good.”
― William T. Vollmann, quote from Europe Central
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