Skip to content

Selves Quote by Ben Lerner

Download Open image

““...discovering you are not identical with yourself even in the most disturbing and painful way still contains the glimmer, however refracted, of the world to come, where everything is the same but a little different because the past will be citable in all of its moments, including those that from our present present happened but never occurred.””

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.0 out of 5 (9 ratings)

Selves Time

More by Ben Lerner

I don't think it's always a sign of respect for persons (inside or outside of fiction) to pretend to be able to represent, to…

Image

Shaving is a way to start the workday by ritually not cutting your throat when you've the chance.

Image

I don't want to write poems that are just really clear about how I'm aware of all the traps involved in writing poetry; I…

Image

“What you need to do is harness the self-love you are hypostasizing as offspring, as the next generation of you, and let it branch…

Image

“And because his narrator was characterized above all by his anxiety regarding the disconnect between his internal experience and his social self-presentation,”

Image

“And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it…

Image

“Part of what makes the book bizzare is that Whitman, because he wants to stand for everyone, because he wants to be less a…

Image

I didn't want to write another book about fraudulence.

Image

The problem is that if you're self-conscious about being a person on whom nothing is lost, isn't something lost - some kind of presence?…

Image

Most of us start from that position of irony now and what I wanted to do - really felt like I had to do…

Image

Laser technology has fulfilled our people's ancient dream of a blade so fine that the person it cuts remains standing and alive until he…

Image

“Our contempt for any particular poem must be perfect, be total, because only a ruthless reading that allows us to measure the gap between…

Image

Explore all 73 Ben Lerner quotes

More Selves quotes

A lot of people hurl themselves into relationships to lose themselves, but I think the best relationships help us to be more ourselves, to…

Caroline Leavitt

Image

The idea that Americans favor politicians who either remind them of themselves or can imagine what their selves are like because they too have…

Image

The thing I love most about my job is watching people age backward, becoming more lively and energetic as they free themselves from situations…

Image

I'm a songwriter, and I understand artistic licence. We can embellish, go on little journeys and explore our inner selves. It can be quite…

Image

I don't agree with the sentiment 'write what you know.'... I think one should write what one doesn't know. The world is bigger and…

Image

The problem with Instagram is people aren't portraying their real selves.

Image

It does seem really hard to get consumers to do the right thing. It is stupid that we use two tons of steel, glass,…

Image

The last refuge of privacy cannot be placed solely in law or technology. It must repose in both, and a thoughtful combination of the…

Jonathan Zittrain

Image

Can we ignore what is going on around us, can we disconnect ourselves, our own material situation, our spiritual selves, who we are, can…

Image

I left acting for a couple of years to found my company, Wayfarer, and the first project I did was this documentary series I…

Image

Great artists are the ones who have put their entire selves out there to be adored, humiliated, to be picked at, cherished, all of…

Image

I believe we are most beautiful when we are constantly shedding our old selves and moving into new light.

Suki Waterhouse

Image

Browse all 51 Selves quotes