A bite-sized Tumblr companion to @brainpickings by @brainpicker.
Brooklyn, NY
Joined February 2012
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"Love is the perception of individuals. Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real."
Iris Murdoch on the relationship between love, art, and human goodness themarginalian.org/2022/01/0…
The 12 kinds of time and how to be more fully alive themarginalian.org/2024/09/1…
The pattern inside the pattern – fractals, the hidden order of chaos, and the story of the refugee who revolutionized the mathematics of reality themarginalian.org/2021/02/2…
"We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not."
Joan Didion on keeping a notebook themarginalian.org/2012/11/1…
20 favorite children's books from 20 years of The Marginalian themarginalian.org/2026/10/2…
Anaïs Nin on why emotional excess is essential for creativity themarginalian.org/2012/09/0…
Iris Murdoch on the five phases of freedom, in literature and life themarginalian.org/2022/05/2…
"There is no place more intimate than the spirit alone."
May Sarton's stunning century-old ode to solitude themarginalian.org/2017/12/0…
The weasel and the meaning of it all – Annie Dillard on how to live themarginalian.org/2025/10/1…
Einstein on the secret to learning anything, in a letter of advice to his own son themarginalian.org/2013/06/1…
The map to the route of your life themarginalian.org/2026/10/1…
Why leaves change color and how we become who we are – the science of chlorophyll (which is still a mystery) and the poetics of personhood (which is always a mystery) themarginalian.org/2021/10/2…
How to delight in your days – poet and gardener Ross Gay's yearlong experiment in fierce gladness themarginalian.org/2019/12/0…
Nobel laureate Albert Camus on the 3 antidotes to the absurdity of life themarginalian.org/2017/07/2…
A Stoic's key to peace of mind – Seneca's antidote to anxiety, effective 2,000 years later themarginalian.org/2017/08/2…
"solitude is not
a glass hedge
between life and love
but a mirror to see each other
with a heart amplified
by the time attended
in the house of enough"
...and 19 other truths about life from 20 years of The Marginalian, cast in clay and lichen themarginalian.org/2026/10/1…
"The use of music is to remind us how short a time we have a body."
Gorgeous read themarginalian.org/2022/10/1…
Reclaiming friendship – a visual taxonomy of platonic relationship types to counter the commodification of the word "friend" themarginalian.org/2016/08/1…
When your parents are dying – some of the simplest, most difficult and redemptive life-advice you'll ever receive themarginalian.org/2021/11/1…
