Every now and then I find myself wondering what I might have accomplished had I been less distractible. But then my mind begins to wander and I lose interest.
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Recently, I read something by a writer in his thirties who credited his impressive prolificness to a "rotor," an innate capacity to block out distractions and effortlessly generate words, sentences, and paragraphs with the efficiency of a Mazda engine. My own efforts more closely resemble those of a Tin Man who has been abandoned to the elements.
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Believers insist that non-believers would be better people if they believed. I have a hard time believing that.
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Book lust: the overwhelming urge to buy another book you do not need, may never read, and will feel guilty about owning every time you see it on the shelf.
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I still run into people who think Trump is something new and different. No, I tell them. In his gross venality, remorseless bigotry, and boundless self-regard, Trump is as American as apple pie.
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I read history and nonfiction to apprehend the what of the world; I read fiction to better understand the why.
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When I was young, I traveled the world, saw many remarkable things, had many strange and marvelous experiences. And when I finally returned home, I realized I had seen and experienced enough, and was content to wait.
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I tried to understand her but she made no sense.
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Nostalgia is not about the places in our past we think we long for; it's about the people — parents, siblings, lovers, friends — who created those places in our hearts.
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repthiel — an acoloyte/protege of illiberal venture capitalist-cum-intellectual Peter Thiel.