[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fPX2MFUoPCL7e4sVl9kAvtF7Jd7kc9S8m6E4MWxWkHfM":3,"$fDs4YFdbTZ74KB0c6J-Q4Kd_bG15NyhZ9LW01nAYdv6g":12},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},16721,"Derek Raymond","D",13,null,"derek-raymond",[],{"quotes":13,"pagination":162},[14,22,28,34,41,53,64,90,116,133],{"id":15,"quote_text":16,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":19,"source":20,"quote_tag":21,"commentary":9},2978559,"It’s wearying, like Caliban buttonholing you in hell and telling you the struggle he’s having getting along with himself.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":23,"quote_text":24,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":25,"source":26,"quote_tag":27,"commentary":9},2978542,"I have taken a terrible beating from the truth and feel tamed, wise and desperate, as if I had taken a short route to wisdom through a mirror, and cut myself badly on it as I passed through.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":29,"quote_text":30,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":31,"source":32,"quote_tag":33,"commentary":9},2978534,"I became as hard as whipcord, but with a brain like cottonwool.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":35,"quote_text":36,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":37,"source":38,"quote_tag":39,"commentary":40},2978527,"Every day you amass knowledge in a frantic race against death that death must win. You want to find out everything in the time you have; yet in the end you wonder why you bothered, it’ll all be lost. I keep trying to explain this to anyone who will listen.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nDerek Raymond's writing is often characterized by its darkness and introspection, reflecting his own experiences as a child evacuee during World War II and later as a soldier. The quote you've provided likely stems from one of his novels or essays written in the 1970s to 1990s, when he was grappling with existential questions about mortality and knowledge.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nWhat lies beneath Raymond's poignant acknowledgment is the existential tension between accumulating knowledge and confronting its transience. He highlights that our drive for understanding and mastery is inherently at odds with the inevitability of loss, underscoring the human experience as one of precarious existence amidst chaos.\n\n**How to Use This**\nThis mindset can be applied by acknowledging and embracing the impermanence of all we create and learn, encouraging a \"stop-start\" approach to projects or pursuits. Recognize that each step forward is not about accumulating knowledge for its own sake but about experiencing the world in the fleeting time we have, making each moment count rather than trying to secure an eternal legacy through our achievements.",{"id":42,"quote_text":43,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":18,"author":45,"source":46,"quote_tag":47,"commentary":9},758504,"I knocked at a second-floor flat in a dreary house, one of two hundred in a dreary Catford street.",2,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[48],{"id":49,"tag":50},3609123,{"id":51,"tag_name":52},28132,"first-lines",{"id":54,"quote_text":55,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":18,"author":56,"source":57,"quote_tag":58,"commentary":9},562940,"I studied him and realized that madness is the last defence of the mind when it can't hope to reconcile itself with events; I too was standing between routine and the unknowable.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[59],{"id":60,"tag":61},3031911,{"id":62,"tag_name":63},3006,"madness",{"id":65,"quote_text":66,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":18,"author":67,"source":68,"quote_tag":69,"commentary":9},558958,"She doesn’t think she’s worthy to live. But she doesn’t realize, she is life.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[70,75,80,85],{"id":71,"tag":72},3018487,{"id":73,"tag_name":74},24,"life",{"id":76,"tag":77},3018488,{"id":78,"tag_name":79},25,"love",{"id":81,"tag":82},3018486,{"id":83,"tag_name":84},119,"death",{"id":86,"tag":87},3018489,{"id":88,"tag_name":89},2968,"self-hatred",{"id":91,"quote_text":92,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":18,"author":93,"source":94,"quote_tag":95,"commentary":9},510892,"A quick butchers shows up Old Bill three-handed, also a particularly nasty female grass–-and if looks were acid baths the two she collects from us would reduce her to gristle quicker than Mrs. Durand-Deacon.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[96,101,106,111],{"id":97,"tag":98},2835274,{"id":99,"tag_name":100},4217,"crime",{"id":102,"tag":103},2835280,{"id":104,"tag_name":105},18977,"true-crime",{"id":107,"tag":108},2835277,{"id":109,"tag_name":110},27431,"noir",{"id":112,"tag":113},2835276,{"id":114,"tag_name":115},91111,"hard-boiled",{"id":117,"quote_text":118,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":18,"author":119,"source":120,"quote_tag":121,"commentary":132},482257,"It seems to me that no matter whether you marry, settle down or live with a bird or not, certain ones simply have your number on them, like bombs in the war; and even if you don’t happen to like them all that much there’s nothing you can do about it — unless you’re prepared to spend a lifetime arguing fate out of existence, which you could probably do if you tried but I’m not the type.—Crust on Its Uppers, p. 87",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[122,127],{"id":123,"tag":124},2722740,{"id":125,"tag_name":126},1772,"destiny",{"id":128,"tag":129},2722741,{"id":130,"tag_name":131},1810,"fate","**The Backstory**\nDerek Raymond's novel \"Crust on Its Uppers\" is a product of the 1960s counterculture movement, where the author was actively engaged with the emerging social and artistic landscape. This quote reflects his experiences with the complex relationships and social dynamics of the time. As a historian, I note that Raymond's work often explores the tension between individual freedom and the inevitability of fate.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nThe quote reveals a profound insight into the human condition: that some relationships are inescapable, not because of personal choice or agency, but due to a deeper, almost existential force. Raymond suggests that certain individuals have a magnetic attraction to us, akin to \"bombs in the war,\" which can be both fascinating and debilitating.\n\n**How to Use This**\nWhen faced with a complex or challenging relationship, recognize that it may be a manifestation of a deeper, perhaps unconscious, connection. Rather than trying to \"argue fate out of existence,\" acknowledge and accept the dynamic, and focus on navigating it with emotional intelligence and self-awareness.",{"id":134,"quote_text":135,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":18,"author":136,"source":137,"quote_tag":138,"commentary":9},415731,"You Englishmen,’ said Herr Wurter. ‘You are all the same. Wherever you are you behave as if you were at home and your word was law.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[139,144,149,152,157],{"id":140,"tag":141},2402247,{"id":142,"tag_name":143},576,"humour",{"id":145,"tag":146},2402245,{"id":147,"tag_name":148},1264,"english",{"id":150,"tag":151},2402242,{"id":99,"tag_name":100},{"id":153,"tag":154},2402244,{"id":155,"tag_name":156},9054,"crime-thriller",{"id":158,"tag":159},2402246,{"id":160,"tag_name":161},30204,"englishmen",{"currentPage":163,"totalPages":44,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":164},1,10]