Evelina River

It strikes me that a great many ills can be cured by walking through the shade of mighty trees on lanes filled with birdsong. I hope these precious places will always be there to provide quiet and calm in a loud world. 📍 Peak District, England

@amazing_physics Leonardo

Who will you choose?⚡

@bernardtjoy See Chekhov!

Real conversation requires attention. Our generation does not have attention. Therefore we have no real conversation.

@bernardtjoy With bad teeth and pockmarked skin. If it’s ancient Europe, dirty clothes and hair as well. Very good-looking people would stand out a mile away. Also, gaudily painted statues and buildings.

I don't think the aesthetics of films capturing the ancient past should necessarily be pleasing to our eyes, at least not by our standards. I love those films that show the ancient world as an aesthetically disconcerting, confusing, bizarre, and even ridiculous place.

You could just as easily argue that male violence is and always has been the principal problem in the world. The war between the sexes is eternal— why make it worse if you’re truly interested in fixing things? In the Renaissance, royal and aristocratic little boys were raised by their mothers until the age of about six, then dressed in adult clothes and handed over to the entirely masculine households of their fathers. In many (not all) cases, this seems to have worked perfectly well. Modern studies have shown, boys are socialized by their own sex. And I suspect the same is true of girls as well.

@bernardtjoy Night time is the best time for serious work. The only time I’m not interrupted.

Many of us do not wish to sleep at night because time moves fast now, tomorrow is another and separate day, and today does not yet feel meaningful.

“It is not our level of prosperity that makes for happiness but the kinship of heart to heart and the way we look at the world. Both attitudes lie within our power so that a man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy, and no one can stop him.”

Oh please. While I agree women can be every bit as toxic as men, it’s not helpful to accuse an entire sex of destroying the culture— anymore than it was helpful to accuse white European or American men of destroying life and civilization as we know it. Could we please find some sense of balance and equilibrium please? Before the war between the sexes becomes permanent and no more babies are born in the developed world ever again. Let’s celebrate the beauty of both sexes, together again.

Feminization of the West creates the fertile landscape for suicidal empathy.

I keep hearing stories about kids entering school who have never seen a book and don’t know how to turn the pages. If your kids have had no exposure to books in their early years, they are being set up for failure. The surest way to ensure their success is to make them readers.

@bernardtjoy That’s interesting. Everybody sees something different. For me, it’s all in the eyes.

All about what he does with the lips here. *** Peter Paul Rubens, ‘Portrait of a Young Man with a Black Beret’ (c. 1620/25) (detail).

What’s the first word that comes to mind?

How are we supposed to deal with the current generation? It seems a swastika symbol on a book about Hitler’s Third Reich might be a threat to their “public” image if someone else sees it. Who are these people who care more about what an infinity of faceless nobodies think than they care about learning about history… So much for intellectual curiosity. Welcome mass mediocrity.

@biggestboy118 Are you serious? Are you an adult? Can not you or the people around you actually read the title? Do you need a time out? Do you need to call your mommy?

how the fuck am i supposed to read this in public man

@bernardtjoy Tetley’s at three in the morning.

Making the tea is part of the writing process.

People have been accusing me of “tribal signalling” all day long so I want to make something abundantly clear: I have no tribe; I reject them all unreservedly; I would not become a member of any of them to save my life.

@bernardtjoy I would also nominate: Edith Wharton, “The House of Mirth” and “The Custom of the Country” F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby” Richard Wright, “Native Son” Vladimir Nabokov, “Lolita” and “Pnin”

Name a better one. We'll wait.

I love it when social science people meet art and humanities people and there’s a complete rupture of minds. Whereas engineering folks would generally grasp the complexity of the problem in an instant, find it really interesting and want to explore it — social science people (not all, but many) tend to want to shut it down.

The very same people who think intelligence can be measured also think success can be measured and that tells you a great deal.

“Socialism has created the illusion of quenching people's thirst for justice: Socialism has lulled their conscience into thinking that the steamroller which is about to flatten them is a blessing in disguise, a salvation.”

She’s such a great actress. It would be wonderful if she would lean on that, her real talent, instead of something so ephemeral as beauty, in her old age. It’s a bad example to women everywhere unfortunately. And I say this with real sorrow because I admire Demi Moore so much as a creative artist. But it’s time for women to stop selling out.

Demi Moore, 63 years old and absolutely stunning on the red carpet. ✨ Some people really do age like fine wine. Would you rate this look a hit, or is it a bit too much? 👇

@stephenRB4 Kazuo Ishiguro, Donna Tartt, Emma Donoghue.

Who’s your favourite living author? 📚