Sunday, 21 June
Two thoughts from Hilary Mantel
“It is the absence of facts that frightens people: the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires.”
“Insight cannot be taken back. You cannot return to the moment you were in before.”
Monday, 22 June
Two thoughts from Alexis de Tocqueville
“It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”
“A man’s admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.”
Tuesday, 23 June
Two thoughts from Joe Henrich
“Perhaps you are WEIRD, raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re likely rather psychologically peculiar.”
“We are a cultural species.”
Wednesday, 24 June
Two thoughts from Roger Scruton
“Intellectuals are naturally attracted by the idea of a planned society, in the belief that they will be in charge of it.”
“The best evidence of a mind is when you change it.”
Thursday, 25 June
Two thoughts from Adrian A. Gill
“The interesting adults are always the school failures, the weird ones, the losers, the malcontents, this isn’t wishful thinking. It’s the rule.”
“America is Europe’s greatest invention.”
Friday, 26 June
Two thoughts from Denis Johnson
“Write the unpublishable...and then publish it.”
“I make the road. I draw the map. Nothing just happens to me...I’m the one happening.”
Saturday, 27 June
Two thoughts from Don DeLillo
“As technology advances in complexity and scope, fear becomes more primitive.”
“Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us.”
Follow Jim on Twitter for a daily dose of Two Thoughts!