“Bad noises, bad air, bad smells, bad light, an
inconvenient attitude, ugly surroundings, little misfortunes that have lately
been endured, little misfortunes that are soon to come, hunger and thirst,
overeating and overdrinking, want of sleep or too much of it, a tight boot, a
starched collar, are all inimical to thinking. I do not name bodily ailments.
The feeling of heroism which is created by the magnanimity of overcoming great
evils will sometimes make thinking easy. It is not the sorrows but the annoyances
of life which impede. Were I told that the bank had broken in which my little
all was kept for me I could sit down and write my love story with almost a
sublimated vision of love; but to discover that I had given half a sovereign
instead of sixpence to a cabman would render a great effort necessary before I
could find the fitting words for a lover. These little lacerations of the
spirit, not the deep wounds, make the difficulty.”—English novelist Anthony
Trollope (1815-1882), “A Walk in the Woods,” in An Autobiography and Other Writings,
edited by Nicholas Shrimpton (2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment