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Strange Paths of the Mind

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Clarissa

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I have been struggling for two days to remember something I vaguely recollected Sartre having said. I knew it was going to be helpful to my argument but I couldn’t recall enough of the quote to search.

To distract myself, I started to read a random bestselling novel. And guess what? One of the characters quotes that exact sentence from Sartre I couldn’t dredge up.

This kind of thing happens frequently. I’d be looking for something, a quote, a piece of information, and it suddenly appears from the most unexpected direction.

4 responses to “Strange Paths of the Mind”

  1. Avi Avatar
    Avi

    It happens to all highly literate and well-read people.

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  2. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    “One of the characters quotes that exact sentence”

    With me that is more likely to happen after I finally, somehow, get/find/remember the quote or I completely give up on it and find some other quote. After I no longer need to find it it comes out of the woodwork everywhere….

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  3. Avi Avatar
    Avi

    On rereading my comment I realise that it may sound dismissive of what happened to you.

    What I meant is that you were able to come across your half-remembered quotation because you read so widely.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      No, not at all. It’s a great comment. Reading a lot places one into a sort of a charmed reality where you find unexpected things. You become a magnet that attracts ideas and you float in them like in a warm, delicious soup. Which is probably a weird metaphor but I’m having a weird day.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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