You know: in a foolish, undiscriminating way, I've been happy these last few months. I don't know why. I just am. I love my friends; I love my pupils; I love what I read; I -- dammit -- love my thoughts. I love the taste of oranges.
Thornton Wilder in a letter to Gertrude Stein, Aug 14, 1936

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

DEAR MOM


At every stage of my life I have shirked facing my problems in just this same way; and I shall die at eighty before having formed an opinion of myself, or, perhaps, without writing anything that would have shown me what I could do...However, I worry very little about any of this; I live like a plant, filling myself with sun and light, with colors and fresh air. I keep eating, so to speak; afterwards the digesting will have to be done, then the shitting; and the shit had better be good! That's the important thing.
Gustave Flaubert in a letter to his mother
Cairo, 5 January, 1850
(Flaubert was 28 years old at the time.)

2 comments:

  1. Ol' Gustave sure knew how to turn a Mom's head!

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  2. do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

    ReplyDelete