Chris Ware · 380 pages
Rating: (19.9K votes)
“METAPHOR: A tightly fitting suit of metal, generally tin, which entirely encloses the wearer, both impeding free movement and preventing emotional expression and/or social contact.”
― Chris Ware, quote from Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth
“I guess we all make choices as to how we want to live, right?”
― Chris Ware, quote from Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth
“This life we endure - how strange, yet how jolly”
― Chris Ware, quote from Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth
“Conveniently then he can forget it all exists. And, after a time only a general notion will remain in his mind, that there are places where he doesn't belong, and those where he seems to fall right in.”
― Chris Ware, quote from Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth
“The sound
of One Lung
filling with water
drowned out by wave after wave
of a million buzzing insects
an invisible chorus
that only knows how to sing
the last letter
of the alphabet.”
― Chris Ware, quote from Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth
“Why did we think having a cub was a good idea?”
― Nalini Singh, quote from Allegiance of Honor
“The group shared a combination of extreme marginality and arrogant snobbishness.”
― Stephen Greenblatt, quote from Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
“- هل هيئتي هيئة قاتل؟
- بل أنت شر من ذلك.
ففكرت لحظة ثم قلت لها وقد بدا على وجهي تأثر عميق:
- نعم، ذلك كان حظي منذ نعومة أظفاري! كان جميع الناس يقرأون في وجهي علامات غرائز شريرة أنا منها برئ، وما زالوا يفترضونها فيّ، حتى نبتت وتأصلت. كنت خجولًا، فاتهموني بالمكر، فأصبحت كتومًا. وكنت أحس بالخير والشر إحساسًا عميقًا، ولكن أحدًا لم يعطف عليّ، بل كانوا جميعًا يؤذونني، فأصبحت حقودًا أحب الانتقام. وكنت حزين النفس، وكان الأطفال الآخرين هدّارين، وكنت أشعر أنني فوقهم، فقيل لي أنني دونهم، فأصبحت حسودًا؛ وكنت مهيأ لأن أحب جميع الناس، فلم يفهمني أحد، فتعلمت الكره. لم يكن شبابي الخالي من الفرح إلا صراعًا مع الناس ومع نفسي. خوفًا من الهزء، دفنت أنبل عواطفي في قلبي، فماتت هنالك. وكنت أحب أن أقول الحقيقة، فلم يصدقني أحد، فأخذت أكذب. وقد تعلمت أن أسبر أغوار الناس، وأن أدرك الدوافع التي تحركهم، فأصبحت بارعًا في فن الحياة، ولاحظت أن غيري ممن لا يملكون هذا الفن كانوا سعداء، ينعمون، من غير جهد، بهذه الخيرات التي كنت أجهد للحصول عليها بلا كلال؛ فولد اليأس في قلبي، لا ذلك اليأس الذي تذهب به رصاصة من مسدس، بل هذا اليأس البارد، العاجز، الذي يختفي وراء سلوك لطيف، وابتسامة طيبة. أصبحت روحي مشلولة. ذهب نصف نفسي: جفّ، تبخّر، مات. قطعته ورميته بعيدًا عني. بينما كان النصف الآخر يتحرك ويتمنى أن يخدم جميع الناس.”
― Mikhail Lermontov, quote from Der Held unserer Zeit: Kaukasische Lebensbilder
“Sometimes that's all you can do. Hope.”
― Natasha Friend, quote from My Life in Black and White
“The mature response, however, is not to leave; it's to change -- ourselves.
Whenever marital dissatisfaction rears its head in my marriage -- as it does in virtually every marriage -- I simply check my focus. The times that I am happiest and most fulfilled in my marriage are the times when I am intent on drawing meaning and fulfillment from becoming a better husband rather than from demanding a "better" wife.
If you're a Christian, the reality is that, biblically speaking, you can't swap your spouse for someone else. But you can change yourself. And that change can bring the fulfillment that you mistakenly believe is found only by changing partners. In one sense, it's comical: Yes, we need a changed partner, but the partner that needs to change is not our spouse, it's us!
I don't know why this works. I don't know how you can be unsatisfied maritally, and then offer yourself to God to bring about change in your life and suddenly find yourself more satisfied with the same spouse. I don't why this works, only that it does work. It takes time, and by time I mean maybe years. But if your heart is driven by the desire to draw near to Jesus, you find joy by becoming like Jesus. You'll never find joy by doing something that offends Jesus -- such as instigating a divorce or an affair.”
― Gary L. Thomas, quote from Sacred Marriage: Celebrating Marriage as a Spiritual Discipline
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