Gavin Extence famous quotes

When I read these books, I no longer felt like I was confined to a very tiny world. I no longer felt housebound and bedbound. Really, I told myself, I was just brainbound. And this was not such a sorry state of affairs. My brain, with a little help from other people's brains, could take me to some pretty interesting places, and create all kinds of wonderful things. Despite its faults, my brain, I decided, was not the worst place in the world to be.
-- Gavin Extence

#Sorry #Book #Interesting

If you had to relive your life exactly as it was – same successes and failures, same happiness, same miseries, same mixture of comedy and tragedy – would you want to? Was it worth it?
-- Gavin Extence

#Tragedy #Want #Mixtures

I knew how many zeroes there were in a quintillion, but I thought that algebra lived in ponds.
-- Gavin Extence

#Ponds #Algebra

Even very low-probability events can, and indeed do, occur.
-- Gavin Extence

#Events #Lows #Probability

The most important thing I learned [...] was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.
-- Gavin Extence

#Silly #Past #People

Fear distorts the world. Fear sees demons where only shadows dwell.
-- Gavin Extence

#Shadow #World #Demon

In the long history of human affairs, common sense doesn’t have the greatest track record.
-- Gavin Extence

#Long #Track #Common Sense

The feeling ("sens", Fr.) of solidarity that is born amidst a community rest on the feeling of antagonism arouse (aroused:;? arose:;?... sorry, - "suscité", Fr.) by those who are opposed to it. Most of the time we only adhere to a party or a group, in order to better (or more, - "pour mieux se", Fr.) differentiate ourselves of another.

I don't go in for being sorry for people. For one thing it's insulting. One is only sorry for people if they are sorry for themselves. Self-pity is the biggest stumbling block in our world today. ~Jessop

In the papers this morning: 'Police closing in on Ian Holloway.' Sorry, it's 'Palace closing in on Ian Holloway.'

I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents.

An American has invented a remote control that will turn off any telly within a 20ft radius. What a marvellous device! What a splendid invention! What a really helpful and improving way of devoting your time to building something that turns off culture. Next week, I'm instigating Burn a Book Week, to encourage even more conversation. I've come up with a fantastic little device which I'll call a box of matches.

Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired (by passionate devotion to them) produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can peradventure read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity ... we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance.

My reading list grows exponentially. Every time I read a book, it'll mention three other books I feel I have to read. It's like a particularly relentless series of pop-up ads.

I think a biography is only as interesting as the lives and times it illuminates.

As an artist I would like to eliminate the symbolic pretty much, for black is interesting not as a color but as a non-color and as the absence of color.

Memory only becomes interesting through its struggle with forgetfulness.