The Marginalian was born 16 years ago today (under the outgrown name Brain Pickings). Here are 16 things I've learned about life over the years (and the untold origin story) themarginalian.org/2022/10/23/16-
Pinned Tweet
49
191
774
Follow
Maria Popova
@brainpicker
Reader. Writer. Creator of The Marginalian (long ago named Brain Pickings). Author of #Figuring. Lover of trees. Petter of moss. Rider of a cobalt blue bicycle.
Maria Popova’s Tweets
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
Simone Weil, born on this day in 1909, on attention and grace
4
20
The ants, the bees, and the blind spots of the human mind – how entomologist Charles Henry Turner, born on this day in 1867, revolutionized our understanding of the evolution of intelligence and emotion
themarginalian.org/2023/02/02/cha #BlackHistoryMonth
17
34
“It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves.”
Simone Weil, born on this day in 1909, on the paradox of closeness and separation
1
16
49
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
The underappreciated genius Simone Weil, born on this day in 1909, on attention and grace
1
42
213
“Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.”
Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, who died on this day in 1970, on how to grow old:
1
32
161
“You may gather from my article what Ulysses has done to a supposedly balanced psychologist.”
On James Joyce's birthday, Carl Jung's review of Ulysses
18
41
“Do not amend by reasoning, but by example; approach feeling by feeling; do not hope to excite love except by love.”
200-year-old wisdom on love from a forgotten Swiss philosopher
7
41
“We always keep the dearest things to ourselves.”
On James Joyce's birthday, his moving teenage fan letter to his greatest literary hero
7
60
The history of women on bicycles, in an enchanting choral invocation sung by the young women of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus
12
45
For anyone who has survived a difficult parent, Kafka's remarkable letter to his narcissistic and abusive father
1
26
93
“If I am to write anything fine or noble in the future I shall do so only by listening at the doors of your heart.”
On James Joyce's birthday, his magnificent love letters to the love of his life
2
14
53
“Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.”
Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, who died on this day in 1970, on how to grow old:
4
22
128
The flower and the meaning of life, with Emily Dickinson, Michael Pollan, and The Little Prince
10
53
The day Dostoyevsky discovered the meaning of life in a dream
1
18
87
Remembering Bertrand Russell, who died on this day in 1970, with his magnificent Nobel speech about the four desires driving human behavior
1
12
59
Bertrand Russell died on this day in 1970, having lived nearly a century, leaving us some of the finest philosophy of the century and his abiding wisdom on how to grow old
17
83
The day Hermann Hesse discovered the meaning of life in a tree
1
15
69
"Whatever else you do, it’s worth tending to paradise, however you define it and wherever it arises."
On gardening as resistance
23
95
Beautiful animated short film about the wonder and fragility of life
16
68
The sea and the soul – gorgeous read on the elemental blues of being by poet, painter, and philosopher Etel Adnan
9
54
We Are the American Heartbreak – Langston Hughes, born on this day in 1902, on race in a rare recording themarginalian.org/2016/09/23/ame #BlackHistoryMonth
8
35
Mary Shelley died on this day in 1851, leaving us "Frankenstein" and her immortal wisdom on what makes life worth living
16
65
For everyone who has survived a difficult parent, Kafka's remarkable letter to his narcissistic and abusive father
12
37
For #BlackHistoryMonth, W.E.B. Du Bois's little-known modernist data visualizations created for the World's Fair in 1900
17
43
Thought extinct for millions of years, the dawn redwood was discovered in the middle of World War II, bringing humanity together in a touching global effort to celebrate and conserve this "living fossil" liking us to the time of the dinosaurs
1
6
31
“Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them… Love your neck; put a hand on it, grace it, stroke it and hold it up… Love your heart. For this is the prize.”
Toni Morrison on the body as an instrument of joy, sanity, and self-love
23
74
"Wait" – a beautiful and life-giving poem by Galway Kinnell, born on this day in 1927, composed to keep a young friend from taking his own life
1
19
74
On Langston Hughes's birthday, his magnificent fan letter to the young Nina Simone themarginalian.org/2019/06/23/lan #BlackHistoryMonth
15
57
Mary Shelley died on this day in 1851, leaving us "Frankenstein" and her immortal wisdom on what makes life worth living
1
29
86
“The gardener digs in another time, without past or future, beginning or end… Here is the Amen beyond the prayer.”
Derek Jarman, born on this day in 1942, on gardening, grief, and creativity
1
18
79
“Growth is a greater mystery than death. All of us can understand failure… but not even the successful man can begin to describe the impalpable elations and apprehensions of growth.”
Norman Mailer, born 100 years ago today, on the paradox of success
14
67
The remarkable story of the dawn redwood – how a living fossil brought humanity together in the middle of a World War
8
31
“The true object of education, like that of every other moral process, is the generation of happiness. Happiness to the individual in the first place. If individuals were universally happy, the species would be happy.”
200 years later, still superb:
7
49
Atoms with consciousness – Yo-Yo Ma performs Richard Feynman's ode to the wonder of life, animated
16
50
This might be the original "Let there be light" – JWST reveals what may be the oldest stars of the universe, its first spark of light
1
12
40
Turning abruptly from friendship to love – a piercing love letter from Sartre
8
38
"You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it."
Emerson on how to trust yourself
12
75
Growing through grief – Derek Jarman, born on this day in 1942, on gardening as creative redemption and training ground for presence
3
48
164
