The Marginalian was born on October 23, 2006, under an outgrown name, to an outgrown self that feels to me now almost like a different species of consciousness. (It can only be so — if we don�...
Mastering the essential complementarity of compassion and total objectivity.
"We ought to give the whole of our attention to the most insignificant and most easily mastered facts, and remain a long time in contemplation of them until we are accustomed to behold the truth ...
https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/03/31/descartes-rules-for-the-direction-of-the-mind/
"I am sending the list I began, but didn't finish, for your consideration, but not for publication, since it is still far from complete."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/09/30/leo-tolstoy-reading-list/
Books that help us, in ways big and small, direct and indirect, make sense of ourselves, our world, and our place in it.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/03/14/manual-for-civilization-reading-list/
How to feel your way toward something honest, hidden under the trapdoor on the top of your skull.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/10/18/ray-bradbury-on-lists/
"Do search. But in order to find other than what it searched for."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/08/23/richard-diebenkorn-10-rules-for-painting/
"If it sounds like writing … rewrite it."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/08/21/elmore-leonard-10-rules-of-writing/
"If you ever find a man who is better than you are – hire him. If necessary, pay him more than you pay yourself."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/07/30/david-ogilvy-principles-of-creative-management/
"Don't try to anticipate an ideal reader – or any reader. He/she might exist – but is reading someone else."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/07/19/joyce-carol-oates-10-tips-on-writing/
"Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/06/27/rules-for-civility-george-washington/
Champagne over strawberries, Glenn Gould over Vivaldi, romantic music over fidelity, and absolutely no telephoning.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/06/18/barthes-likes-and-dislikes-illustrated-lynore-avery/
On the rare talents of trust, gusto, and guts under pressure.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/06/11/david-ogilvy-10-qualities-of-creative-leaders/
Hemingway, Didion, Baldwin, Fitzgerald, Sontag, Vonnegut, Bradbury, Morrison, Orwell, Le Guin, Woolf, and other titans of literature.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/05/03/advice-on-writing/
How lists confer value and guarantee existence.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/04/26/susan-sontag-lists-likes-dislikes/
"In disputes upon moral or scientific points, ever let your aim be to come at truth, not to conquer your opponent. So you never shall be at a loss in losing the argument, and gaining a new discov...
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/04/17/the-art-of-conversation-martine-etiquette-1866/
"The more circumspectly you delay writing down an idea, the more maturely developed it will be on surrendering itself."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/04/15/the-writers-technique-in-thirteen-theses-walter-benjamin/
"We must gain victory, not by assaulting the walls, but by accepting them."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/03/18/you-can-master-life-1934/
"Everything good needs time. Don’t do work in a hurry... For genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/02/05/9-rules-for-success-by-amelia-barr/
"A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader."
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/01/21/nabokov-on-what-makes-a-good-reader/