Advice for a human
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2. Don't worry about your abilities. You have the ability to love. That is enough.
3. Be nice to other people. At the universal level, they are you.
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7. Irony is fine, but not as fine as feeling.
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9. Sometimes, to be yourself you will have to forget yourself and become something else. Your character is not a fixed thing. You will sometimes have to move to keep up with it.
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13. You shouldn't have been born. Your existence is as close to impossible as can be. To dismiss the impossible is to dismiss yourself.
14. Your live will have 25,0000 days in it. Make sure you remember some of them.
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25. There is only one genre in fiction. The genre is called 'book'.
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29. If there is a sunset, stop and look at it. Knowledge is finite. Wonder is infinite.
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33. You are not the most intelligent creature in the universe. You are not even the most intelligent creature on your planet. Yhe tonal language in the song of a humpback whale displays more complexity than the entire works of Shakespeare. It is not a competition. Well, it is. But don't worry about it.
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38. Walt Whitman was right about at least one thing. You will contradict yourself. You are large. You contain multitudes.
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41. Your brain is open. Never let it be closed.
42. In a thousand years, if humans survive that long, everything you know will have been disapproved. And replaced by even bigger myths.
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46. A paradox. The things you don't need to live - books, art, cinema, wine and so on - are things you need to live.
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48. No two moralities match. Accept different shapes, so long as they aren't sharp enough to hurt.
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51. Alcohol in the evening is very enjoyable. Hangovers in the mornings are very unpleasant. At some point you have to choose: evenings, or mornings.
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60. Obey your head. Obey your heart. Obey your gut. In fact, obey everything except commands.
61. One day, if you get into a position of power, tell people this: just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. There is a power and a beauty in unproved conjectures, unkissed lips and unpicked flowers.
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65. Don't think you know. Know you think.
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74. A quark is not the smallest thing. The wish you have on your death-bed - to have worked harder - that is the smallest thing. Because it won't be there.
75. Politeness is often fear. Kindness is always courage. But caring is what makes human. Care more, become more human.
76. In your mind, change the name of every day to Saturday. And change the name of work to play.
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81. You can't find happiness looking for the meaning of life. Meaning is only the third important thing. It comes after loving and being.
82. If you think something is ugly, look harder. Ugliness is just a failure of seeing.
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84. Your are more than the sum of your particles. And that is quite a sum.
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86. To like something is to insult it. Love it or hate it. Be passionate. As Civilisation advances, so does indifference. It is a disease. Immunise yourself with art. And love.
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90. But know this. Men are not from Mars. Women are not from Venus. Do not fall for categories. Everyone is everything. Every ingredient inside a star is inside you, and every personality that ever existed competes in the theatre of your mind for the main role.
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94. You don't have to be an academic. You don't have to be anything. Don't force it. Feel your way, and don't stop feeling your way until something fits. Maybe nothing will. Maybe you are a road, not a destination. That is fine. Be a road. But make sure it's one with something to look at out of the window.
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97. I love you. Remember that.
The Humans, P271-277
Matt Haig
ISBN 978-0-85786-876-3
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