(b. 1958– )
U.S. writer and professor“Do all the other things, the ambitious things—travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop)—but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness. Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial. That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality—your soul, if you will—is as bright and shining as any that has ever been. Bright as Shakespeare’s, bright as Gandhi’s, bright as Mother Theresa’s. Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.”
more infosource: convocation speech for the graduates of Syracuse University, 2013, reprinted on The 6th Floor Blog, New York Times, July 31, 2013. Full text here.
category: advice, kindness, school of life, share
medium: Convocation speech
via: Rachel Hass“Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.”
more infosource: “George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You’ll Read This Year,” by Joel Lovell, New York Times Magazine, January 3, 2013.
category: death, open, possibility, receptive
medium: Magazine profile
“I’ve seen time and time again the way that the process of trying to say something dignifies and improves a person.”
more infosource: “George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You’ll Read This Year,” by Joel Lovell, New York Times Magazine, January 3, 2013.
category: communication, creative process, self-improvement, writing
medium: Magazine profile
George Saunders