“He was never once bored. He wasn’t sure, he said, that he even understood the concept of boredom. It applied only to… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Herman Melville, the author of Moby-Dick, largely withdrew from public life for thirty years. “All profound things,” he wrote, “are preceded and… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Two of life’s greatest pleasures, by my reckoning, are camping and reading—most gloriously, both at once.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“If you’re born a human oddity,” says the introductory chapter of Very Special People, “every day of your life, starting in infancy,… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Our genus, Homo, arose two and a half million years ago, and for more than ninety-nine percent of human existence, we all… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“life isn’t about searching endlessly to find what’s missing; it’s about learning to live with the missing parts.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Our whole lives, Jefferies said, are wasted traveling in endless small circles; we are all “chained like a horse to an iron… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“He was confounded by the idea that passing the prime of your life in a cubicle, spending hours a day at a… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“survive, and neither do the strong. Life is a constant, merciless fight that everyone loses.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Modern life seems set up so that we can avoid loneliness at all costs, but maybe it's worthwhile to face it occasionally.… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“The life inside a book always felt welcoming to Knight. It pressed no demands on him, while the world of human interactions… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“It's possible that Knight believed he was one of the few sane people left. He was confounded by the idea that passing… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
Modern life, especially with young children, so often seems like a mad rush... We so rarely take time to just do nothing… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“I have only in my life carried to an extreme what you have not dared to carry halfway, and what’s more, you… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Socrates may have concluded that his most valuable possession was his leisure. “Beware the barrenness of a busy life” is a quote… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
I never do formal interviews. I don't use a tape recorder. I take notes but occasionally. — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“He has seen the bottomless nonsense of our world and has decided, like most of us, to simply try to tolerate it. He appears… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
America might be the land of second chances, but it ain't the land of third chances. — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“The American essayist William Deresiewicz wrote that “no real excellence, personal or social, artistic, philosophical, scientific, or moral, can arise without solitude.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“The first great literary work about solitude, the Tao Te Ching, was written in ancient China, likely in the sixth century B.C., by a… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
There have always been hermits: people who want to get away from other humans. Literally, some of the first extant books and poems found… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
I think many people have this sense that something about modern society - the screens, the noise, the traffic, the constant busyness - has… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
I'd lied many times: to bolster my credentials, to elicit sympathy, to make myself appear less ordinary. — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“He never bothered listening to sports; the bored him, every one of them.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
