330 Quotes by Susan Orlean

I'm very excited about my new Spotify account, which gives me access to twenty gazillion songs any time, all the time. The day I opened my account, though, I sat there perplexed. How would I figure out what I wanted to hear?

Knowledge is a beautiful thing, but there are a few things I wish I didn’t know.

I am of mixed minds about the issue of privacy. On one hand, I understand that information is power, and power is, well, power, so keeping your private information to yourself is essential – especially if you are a controversial figure, a celebrity, or a dissident.

The library is a whispering post. You don’t need to take a book off a shelf to know there is a voice inside that is waiting to speak to you, and behind that was someone who truly believed that if he or she spoke, someone would listen.

The books burned while most of us were waiting to see if we were about to witness the end of the world.

States should pass laws making it illegal to own or trade wild animals; the phony ‘educational’ permits that many private owners have used to skirt those laws should be eliminated.

What’s funny is that the idea of popularity – even the use of the word ‘popular’ – is something that had been mostly absent from my life since junior high. In fact, the hallmark of life after junior high seemed to be the shedding of popularity as a central concern.

I would like to make sleeping my new hobby, except that I’m too tired, really, to have a hobby. But a girl can always dream.

When I miss my mother these days, now that she is gone, I like to picture us in the car together, going for one more magnificent trip to Bertram Woods.