The Film of Familiarity
"Mr. Wordsworth was to propose to himself as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day, and to excite a feeling analogous to the supernatural, by awakening the mind's attention from the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us; an inexhaustible treasure, but for which, in consequence of the film of familiarity and selfish solicitude we have eyes, yet see not, ears that hear not, and hearts that neither feel nor understand."
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge on William Wordsworth, from Biographia Literaria
"If you go out and confirm the ten thousand things, this is delusion; if you let the ten thousand things come and confirm you, this is enlightenment."
~ Dōgen Zenji
"I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything."
~ Steven Wright
