"I really like looking at other people's book collections when I'm at someone's house. I think it is an amazing cross section of a person's brain and lifestyle. I think everyone should photograph their book spines and make a website. Seriously."

“One's virtue is all that one truly has, because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.”

“I believe there's only one autobiography you can do.”

“Being different is ... interesting; there's nothing implicitly inferior or superior about it. Great difference, of course, produces natural caution; and if the differences are too extreme ... well, then, reality tends to fade away.”

“I knit for Caps for Good - a charity that gives hats to Third World babies - while I watch movies with friends.”

“The feudal concept of self-preservation is poisoned at the core by the virulent assumption of master and man, of potentate and slave, of external and internal suppression of the life urge of the only one - of its faith in human sacrifice as a means of salvation.”

“It's all papers and forms, the entire Civil Service is like a fortress made of papers, forms and red tape.”

“When you want something with all your heart, that's when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It's always a positive force.”

“And now, my friend, I am going to expose to you all my weaknesses. All men, I believe, are under a necessity of paying tribute at some time or other to Love, and it is vain to strive to avoid it. I was a philosopher, yet this tyrant of the mind triumphed over all my wisdom; his darts were of greater force than all my reasonings, and with a sweet constraint he led me wherever he pleased.”

Source : Peter Abelard, Héloïse (2017). “Letters of Abelard and Heloise”, p.40, Litres