![Loading... Loading...](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/loading_big-5baaead7062b26142a19d19a9bccf5c2.gif)
![Mary Oliver](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1634180145i/23988._UX200_CR0,57,200,200_.jpg)
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
―
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
―
![Karl Marx](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1523865402i/7084._UX200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.
[These words are also inscribed upon his grave]”
― Eleven Theses on Feuerbach
[These words are also inscribed upon his grave]”
― Eleven Theses on Feuerbach
![Elena Ferrante](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1635020942i/44085._UX200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Each of us narrates our life as it suits us.”
― Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
― Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
![Karl Marx](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1523865402i/7084._UX200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
“I am nothing but I must be everything.”
― Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right
― Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right
![T.S. Eliot](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1612500008i/18540._UX200_CR0,90,200,200_.jpg)
“The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.”
― Four Quartets
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.”
― Four Quartets
mari’s 2023 Year in Books
Take a look at mari’s Year in Books. The good, the bad, the long, the short—it’s all here.
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by mari
Lists liked by mari