Author: Amor Towles
Imagining what might happen if one’s circumstances were different was the only sure route to madness
By Diverse Means We Arrive at the Same End…
The commonest way of softening the hearts of those we have offended, when, vengeance in hand, they hold us at their mercy, is by submission to move them to commiseration and pity. However, audacity and steadfastness-entirely contrary means have sometimes served to produce the same effect.
Yaroslav’s barbershop - A land of optimism, precision and political neutrality, it was the Switzerland of the hotel.
For rather than being tools of self-discovery, mirrors tended to be tools of self-deceit.
For if a room that exists under the governance, authority and intent of others seems smaller than it is, then a room that exists in secret can, regardless of it’s dimensions seem as vast as one cares to imagine.
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy its own way
Since it is our friends who should overestimate our capacities.
Individuals shaped by history and history by individuals
It took less time for that parsley to grow than for you to mince it
Waste not want not; neither a borrower nor a lender be.
Nina — Life will follow her in a taxi. It will bump into her by chance. It will work its way into her by affections. And to do so, it will beg, barter, collude, and if necessary, resort to chicanery.
There is not a single country in the civilized world where less attention is paid to philosophy than in the United States. The minds of Americans are universally preoccupied with meeting the body’s every need and attending to life’s little comforts.
But isn’t it possible that he is right in his opinions while being wrong in his sentiments.
Rather than tucking in blankets and buttoning up coats, we must have faith in them to tuck and button on their own. And if they fumble with their new-found liberty we must remain composed, generous and judicious. We must encourage them to venture out from under our watchful gaze, and then sigh with pride when they pass at last through the revolving doors of life…
For what matters in life is not whether we recieve a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim.
I assure you, my dear, were you to play the piano on the moon, I would hear every chord - Says the Count to Sofia