The best sentences I read in 2024

This year’s reading themes: Seafaring, insurmountable desire, fortitude, God

Jan 31, 2025

BRIEF NOTE

Admittedly—and semi-regrettably—there’s not so much lexical chutzpah this year. More philosophy, less whimsy. More heft, less levity. (My reading choices may reflect a desperate grasping for Truth... or they may be incidental.)

Enjoy! Or don’t. This is my personal book olio, after all.

LIFE HACKS (TO EMPLOY)

“Sophia resorted to the simplest means of flight available in cases of great distress: She fell asleep.” —Tove Jansson, The Summer Book

“I start to consider the sea my pharmacy.” —Katyja Pantzar, The Finnish Way

“It would be prudent to spread a thick layer of straw on the ground so that any overripe melons don’t bounce too high when they fall.” —Mel Bartholomew, Square Foot Gardening

“Just walk the streets and say hello to the folks. Everything happens.” —Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire

LIFE RULES (TO REMEMBER)

“Never commit suicide because something unexpected always happens.” —Sylvia Plath, letter to her mother

“Anything that has to be hidden is a burden.” —Tove Jansson, The Summer Book

“She hits him with it on a Sunday night, a time when no people should ever try to talk about anything serious.” —Susan Minot, Rapture

“One ought never to buy anything except with love.” —André Gide, journal entry

“…give God ‘elbow room.’” —Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Good hues (tangerine, lavender, spring-soup green)

OH... OKAY. (POIGNANT)

“You are worth one life, no more than that.” —Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

“It’s sad every time, but not tragic: winter, life, injustice. Absolute horror on a certain morning. It’s only that: sad. One does not get used to it with time.” —Marguerite Duras, Writing

“Your souls should have been immense by now. / (not what they are, small talking things—)” —Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

“I can with one eye squinted take it all as a blessing.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

SO TRUE. (RELATABLE)

“There is the love of one’s little brother.” —Marguerite Duras, Writing

“Obviously I can’t triumph over my immoral side.” —Laurie Colwin, Another Marvelous Thing

“I refuse—out of an incapacity that I elevate to a principle—to resist whatever I find irresistible.” —Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire

“I have never met anybody with a stutter who was not nice.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

NOT RELATABLE. (BUT ENJOYABLE)

“Since early morning he had been busy coating the seams of the boats with seal blood.” —Alfred Lansing, Endurance

“…then too, there were the reindeer hairs.” —Alfred Lansing, Endurance

“simulated vulture regurgitation” —Laurie Colwin, Another Marvelous Thing

“When he was once dining with King Antigonos and some scented water was brought in, he rubbed it into his knees; and when the king asked, ‘Why are you doing that?,’ he replied, ‘Because when I am lying in bed, I hold my knees up to my nostrils.” —Diogenes the Cynic, Sayings and Anecdotes

THE ASCETIC’S DELIGHTS

“No more more.” —Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire

“the luxury of a match” —Alfred Lansing, Endurance

(on educating the sons of his master, Xeniades) “After their other studies, he taught them to ride, to shoot with a bow, to use a sling, and to hurl javelins; and later, at the wrestling-school, he did not allow the instructor to give them a full athletic training, but only as much as was needed to bring some color to their cheeks and keep them fit and well. The boys learned by heart many passages from the poets and historians, and from the works of Diogenes himself, and he trained them in every shortcut to the development of a good memory. In the house he taught them to serve themselves, and to make do with a simple diet, with water as their drink. He made them wear their hair short and unadorned, and go out dressed in nothing but a cloak, with no shoes on their feet; as they walked, they had to keep silent, and not look around them in the street. He would also take them out hunting with him. They for their part had the highest respect for Diogenes, and would seek favors for him from their parents.” —Diogenes the Cynic, Sayings and Anecdotes

“How the spirit feasts on just getting up in the morning.” —Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire

“You are perhaps training me to be responsive to the slightest brightening.” —Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

All Day I Dream About library card socks

CONVERSATION STARTERS FOR PEOPLE WITH NOTHING TO LOSE

“That may be what I miss most about youth: unknowing without fear.” —Elisa Gabbert, Any Person is the Only Self

“it’s raining somewhere, programming flowers / and keeping snails happy. That’s all taken care of.” —Richard Brautigan, “It’s Raining in Love”

“My reading is botchy. I have what passes for an education in this day and time, but I am not deceived by it.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“Have you ever been afflicted before God at the state of your inner life? There is not a strand of self-pity left, but a heartbreaking affliction of amazement to find you are the kind of person that you are.” —Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“Smell is important.” —Tove Jansson, The Summer Book

“I’ve often wondered, since we have rose societies, why no one has started a tomato club or society with chapters across the country.” —Mel Bartholomew, Square Foot Gardening

“It’s just that difficulty exists.” —Marguerite Duras, Writing

VIABLE EPITAPHS

“She stood there for awhile watching the scene, feeling amused.” —Claire Keegan, So Late in the Day

“I said nothing intelligent the whole time, but enjoyed myself.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“telling riddles in the confession booth” —Elisa Gabbert, Any Person is the Only Self

“You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat: So I did sit and eat.” —George Herbert, “Love III”

“Wake me up if you do anything that’s fun.” —Tove Jansson, The Summer Book

Water^2 (reading about hydrotherapy whilst undergoing hydrotherapy)

RE: GOD

“I am uniquely suited to praise you. Then why torment me?” —Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

“This afternoon, in the physical world to which you commonly contribute your silence,” —Louise Glück, The Wild Iris

“With empty hands, they looked outside. At the summers. The winters. The sky. The sea. And the wind. That’s how they acted with God. They spoke to God the way children play.” —Marguerite Duras, Writing

“The thing about God, she thought, is that He usually does help, but not until you’ve made an effort on your own.” —Tove Jansson, The Summer Book

“To know God is to realize that there is a felicity which is beyond pain and compensation. … To deal with God is to find a reality who is incommensurate with all the world.” —Diogenes Allen, Temptation

"Why are we so terrified lest God should speak to us? Because we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him.” —Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says—”I cannot stand any more.” God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly.” —Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“He would never do anything so dumb as make a Hell.” —Tove Jansson, The Summer Book

“Thank you for bothering with such unrewarding people.” —Flannery O’Connor, Moments of Being

MEIN FAITH (PERSONAL)

“I had become religious enough to realize that I wasn’t very religious.” —Diogenes Allen, Temptation

“St. Thomas on his death bed said of the Summa, “It’s all straw.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“Congregations are elastic, stretching to take in all kinds of people and bringing up unexpected perspectives and insights. We need them now more than ever.” —Katherine May, Wintering

“The more I read St. Thomas the more flexible he appears to me. Incidentally, St. John would have been able to sit down with the prostitute and said, “Daughter, let us consider this,” but St. Thomas doubtless knew his own nature and knew that he had to get rid of her with a poker or she would overcome him. I am not only for St. Thomas here but am in accord with his use of the poker.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“I try militantly never to be affected by the pious language of the faithful but it is always coming out when you least expect it. In contrast to the pious language of the faithful, the liturgy is beautifully flat.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“Whatever is worth being proud of comes from God.” —Diogenes Allen, Temptation

“Besides, being of eternity, the more it is laid bare, the brighter it shines.” —Diogenes Allen, Traces of God

At the sleepover insisting I only like philosopher/theologian Diogenes Allen as a friend!!!

PHRASES, TERMS & THREATS THAT I WILL HAPPILY STEAL

Amenomania—”wind madness” —Alfred Lansing, Endurance

[The idea that time is elongated for children because their hearts beat faster] —Elisa Gabbert, Any Person is the Only Self

[The sides of a book] verso or recto —Elisa Gabbert, Any Person is the Only Self

“Quiet!’ Grandmother yelled. ‘Quiet down! Or I’ll throw up on you.” —Tove Jansson, The Summer Book

(British term for German wine) “very cold hock” —John Bayley, Elegy for Iris

(at sea) “A Jonah’s anything that spoils the luck. Sometimes it’s a man—sometimes it’s a boy—or a bucket.” —Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

“That’s good hearin’.” —Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

“but from what I have read about them they all sound like steps on the same ladder.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

(dating a letter) “The Sabbath” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“I live in a rat’s nest of old papers, clippings, torn manuscripts, ancient quarterlies, etc. etc. etc. I can tell more or less by instinct or smell at what level in the impedimenta some article is.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“He was commonly known as hemerobios, that is to say, as one who lived from hand to mouth.” —Diogenes the Cynic, Sayings and Anecdotes

Friability: a material’s tendency toward crumbling —Mel Bartholomew, Square Foot Gardening

(on Susan Sontag’s self-professed shortcomings) “She writes a number of entries on a trait she calls “X,” or “X-iness,” the need to be liked, to please and impress other people. … X is why she’s a “habitual liar”—“Lies are what I think the other person wants to hear.” —Elisa Gabbert, Any Person is the Only Self

Bookstore bit (purchasing an incongruous pair)

ON LOVE (AND PASSION)

“Yes, there are things that this girl knows and knows and knows.” —Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire

“He didn’t understand women. He’d only grown accustomed to expecting certain types of inexplicable behavior.” —Susan Minot, Rapture

“Women should not let men read the books they write.” —Marguerite Duras, Writing

“I wish somebody real intelligent would write me sometime but I seem to attract the lunatic fringe mainly.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“Mystery withers at the very touch of force.” —Diogenes Allen, Temptation

“Okay, let’s part,’ said Billy. ‘You go first.” —Laurie Colwin, Another Marvelous Thing

HAHA

“Just sits there trying out being dead.” —Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire

“The rapidity with which one can completely change one’s ideas… and accommodate ourselves to a state of barbarianism is wonderful.” —Alfred Lansing, Endurance

“(‘You’re rowin’ quite so, Harve.’)” —Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

“If he could mow / the snow he would.” —Thomas Lux, “The Man Into Whose Yard You Should Not Hit Your Ball”

“I don’t deserve any credit for turning the other cheek as my tongue is always in it…” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

(On Crates) “He once so annoyed the harpist Nicodromos that the man struck him in the face; to which he responded by sticking a little sign to his forehead with the inscription ‘Nicodromos did this.” —Diogenes the Cynic, Sayings and Anecdotes

She reads seafaring books by the seaside (and chomps peaches)

NICELY PUT

“her edition of a smile” —Laurie Colwin, Another Marvelous Thing

“a land of fatness, Antartically speaking” —Alfred Lansing, Endurance

“Winter has decorated ordinary life.” —Katherine May, Wintering

“Her laugh had relief and surprise in it. It had a lot of girl in it.” —Susan Minot, Rapture

“Silence fell, in the manner of a guillotine.” —Laurie Colwin, Another Marvelous Thing

“A few dogs here, unimpressed by Christmas.” —John Bayley, Elegy for Iris

“She gave him little slivered chances.” —Susan Minot, Rapture

“a time-killing Sunday afternoon in June” —Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

“his rim of agricultural hair” —Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

“take a deep breath spiritually” —Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“I have been inactive criminally since then.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“My how easy life is when it’s easy, and how hard when it’s hard!” —Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire

TRUTH VIS-Á-VIS PARADOX

“One of the truest pleasures of marriage is solitude… to move ‘closer and closer apart.’” —John Bayley, Elegy for Iris

“I had thought that danger was the safest thing in the world, if you went about it right.” —Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

(Of her teaching style) “[My] goal wasn’t to lighten the burden of the student, but to make it so heavy that he or she would put it down.” —Zen master Houn Jiyu-Kennett

“For in fact the very despising of pleasure is itself a very great source of pleasure.” —Diogenes the Cynic, Sayings and Anecdotes

“If you satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you; you must sacrifice it, pour it out, do with it what commonsense says is an absurd waste. … If you are always taking blessings to yourself, other people do not get their horizon enlarged through you.” —Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“Fr. [Jean] de Manasce told somebody not to come into the Church until he felt it would be an enlargement of his freedom.” —Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

“…the futility of what I am doing would appear to be my deepest source of satisfaction.” —Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire

“You should never ask for what you want. It disturbs the order of things. The way you really want them. You want to be disappointed. You want to be hurt and have to struggle to get over it. You want the wrong presents on your birthday.” —Linda Boström Knausgård, Welcome to America