“Mother is putting my new secondhand clothes in order. She prays now, she says, that I may learn in my own life and away from home and friends what the heart is and what it feels. Amen. So be it. Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race”

James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

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“No, it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence – that which makes it’s truth, it’s meaning – it’s subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream – alone…”

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

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“I am, like most of us, a superficial traveller and I make no apology for ignoring the bad news, laughing off misery and providing a positive spin for much of what we saw. Everyone I know who travels does so to enjoy themselves, and my friends and I set out on this mission to do just that”

Chris Harvie, Do Not take this road to El-Karama

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I want to return
to where I began
to live
not to analyse life
but to live it
to experience each moment completely
the wealth of sensation before it is gone
to live, experiencing,
knowing, understanding,
greeting each dawn
and betraying each sunset

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We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongues, at our peril, risk and hazard

Voltaire

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“The world is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

—W.B. YEATS