There's a small murmur on the internet of voicing one's opinion on what book contains page for page the most wisdom. Granted it's a pretty silly question, but silly things may lead to great things or so the sufis would have us believe. I won't even influence you by listing some nominations seen elsewhere. The two that came to mind first for me focus on wisdom with brevity, plus they weren't listed by anyone I saw:
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
and, of course:
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
(as a book, perhaps I must list The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
Feel free to share.
2 comments:
I just did a quick search and there is some pretty heady stuff - almost none of it I have ever or ever will read. So, I'll go with Dr. Seuss's classic "Oh the places you'll go," re-read that one and you'll see what I mean. So simple and yet breathtakingly wise. Other than that, most books just have a lot of filler.
Not a book, but a short story: A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote. Mostly for this paragraph:
"My, how foolish I am!" my friend cries, suddenly alert, like a woman remembering too late she has biscuits in the oven. "You know what I've always thought?" she asks in a tone of discovery and not smiling at me but a point beyond. "I've always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when he came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don't know it's getting dark. And it's been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I'll wager it never happens. I'll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are"—her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds and kites and grass and Queenie pawing earth over her bone—"just what they've always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes."
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