Highlights & Annotations
There is grandeur in this view
Darwin
"Trenton Mericks, for example...is so dubious about the existence of the concepts around us that he doesn't even think something as seemingly concrete as a chair exists.
His chair example is...a reminder to stay humble, to stay wary of what we believe, about even the most basic things in our lives." 63-4
“When people have this feeling of personal inefficiency, compulsive collecting helps them in feeling better.” 69
“Every age gets the lunatics it deserves”
Roy Porter (103)
“‘How do you go on?’ It was the question I’d been asking of everyone, in a way, for my whole life….[That] mesmerizing way of pulling laughter from cold earth. That levity was the quality I wanted to be near, the substance I wanted to learn how to manufacture in myself, the recipe, as far and wide as I searched, I seemed unable to find.” 159
“... This is something humans do all the time – downplay similarities between us and other animals, as a way of maintaining our spot at the top of our imaginary ladder.” 181
“‘Growing up,’ she told me, ‘is learning to stop believing people’s words about you.” 182
“I've come to believe that it is our life's work to tear down this order, to keep tugging at it, trying to unravel it, to set free the organisms trapped underneath. That it is our life's work to mistrust our measures. Especially those about moral and mental standing. To remember that behind every ruler there is a Ruler. To remember that a category is at best a proxy; at worst, a shackle.” 194