alan on point/apply this to everything:

"philosophical opinions and disputations sound like somewhat sophisticated versions of children yelling back and forth -- "'tis!" "'tis'nt!" "'tis!" "'tis'nt!" -- until (if only philosophers would do likewise) they catch the nonsense of it all and roll over backwards with hoots of laughter."

alan on THE MOMENT:

"the crimes and follies of man's ordinary nightmare life seem neither evil nor stupid but simply pitiable. one has the extraordinarily odd sensation of seeing people in their mean or malicious pursuits looking, at the same time, like gods -- as if they were supremely happy without knowing it."

alan on big pictures:

"ordinarily one might feel that there is a shocking contrast between the marvelous structure of the human organism and its brain, on the one hand, and the uses to which most people put it, on the other. yet there could perhaps be a point of view from which the natural wonder of the organism simply outshines the degrading performances of its superficial consciousness."

early work

last day(s)

fambly cat(s)

calamity: a surprise problem