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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova
@mariapopova.bsky.social
9.1K followers 21 following 2.8K posts
Creator of The Marginalian (once upon a time called Brain Pickings). Lover of books and tress. Petter of moss. Wonderer. Also: almanacofbirds.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · Apr 19
In nearly two decades of The Marginalian, nothing has stirred a more passionate response from readers than the strangest, most sidewise, most private of my labors — the bird divinations I shared the morning of my fortieth birthday. They are now a book of cards:
An Almanac of Birds: 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days
In nearly two decades of The Marginalian, nothing has stirred a more passionate response from readers than the strangest, most sidewise, most private of my labors — the bird divinations I ori…
www.themarginalian.org
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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 43m
"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart."

A lifeline of a read: mailchi.mp/themarginali...
Midweek Sanity Oasis: Love Anyway
Hello <<Name>>! This is the midweek edition of The Marginalian by Maria Popova — one piece resurfaced from two decades of archives as a timeless oasis of sanity to uplift the heart, vivify the mind,...
mailchi.mp
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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1h
Nietzsche, born on this day in 1844, on life after depression www.themarginalian.org/2018/02/12/n...
Nietzsche on Depression and the Rehabilitation of Hope
In praise of “the rejoicing of strength that is returning, of a reawakened faith in a tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,… of impending adventures, of seas that are open again.”
www.themarginalian.org
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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 3h
“…become master over yourself, master of your own good qualities… acquire power over your aye and no and learn to hold and withhold them in accordance with your higher aims…”

Happy birthday, Nietzsche www.themarginalian.org/2015/10/15/n...
Nietzsche on the Journey of Becoming and What It Means to Be a Free Spirit
“…become master over yourself, master of your own good qualities… acquire power over your aye and no and learn to hold and withhold them in accordance with your higher aims……
www.themarginalian.org
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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 5h
A timeless love letter to the relationship between knowledge and mystery from Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman (who was at heart a poet) www.themarginalian.org/2013/01/01/o...
Ode to a Flower: Richard Feynman’s Famous Monologue on Knowledge and Mystery, Animated
“The science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower.”
www.themarginalian.org
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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 7h
"The life that you live in order to photograph it is already, at the outset, a commemoration of itself."

An epoch before Instagram, Italo Calvino (who would have been 102 today) wrote so movingly about photography and the art of presence: www.themarginalian.org/2015/10/15/i...
Italo Calvino on Photography and the Art of Presence
“The life that you live in order to photograph it is already, at the outset, a commemoration of itself.”
www.themarginalian.org
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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 9h
Italo Calvino, born 102 years ago today, on writing – selected wisdom from a lifetime of letters by one of the greatest storytellers who ever lived www.themarginalian.org/2013/06/10/i...
Italo Calvino on Writing: Selected Wisdom from a Lifetime of Letters
“One writes most of all in order to take part in a collective enterprise.”
www.themarginalian.org
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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 10h
"No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life."

Nietzsche, born on this day in 1844, on how to find yourself and the proper aim of education www.themarginalian.org/2015/09/30/n...
Nietzsche on How to Find Yourself and the True Value of Education
“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life.”
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 11h
Annie Dillard on how to live www.themarginalian.org/2025/10/14/a...
Annie Dillard on How to Live
Suppose we answer the most important question of existence in the affirmative. There is then only one question remaining: How shall we live this life? Despite all the technologies of thought and fe…
www.themarginalian.org
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mariapopova.bsky.social
Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 12h
On Hannah Arendt's birthday, her timeless meditation on what forgiveness really means (with deep implications for the meaning of self-forgiveness) www.themarginalian.org/2021/07/14/h...
The Antidote to the Irreversibility of Life: Hannah Arendt on What Forgiveness Really Means
“Forgiving… is the only reaction which does not merely re-act but acts anew and unexpectedly, unconditioned by the act which provoked it and therefore freeing from its consequences both…
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 19h
Joy — like music, like love — is one of those entirely unnecessary miracles of consciousness that give meaning to survival with its bright allegiance to the most alive part of us www.themarginalian.org/2025/07/04/m...
A Defense of Joy
One of the most important things to have learned in life is that choosing joy in a world rife with reasons for despair is a countercultural act of courage and resistance, choosing it not despite th…
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 22h
On Hannah Arendt's birthday, her timeless meditation on what forgiveness really means www.themarginalian.org/2021/07/14/h...
The Antidote to the Irreversibility of Life: Hannah Arendt on What Forgiveness Really Means
“Forgiving… is the only reaction which does not merely re-act but acts anew and unexpectedly, unconditioned by the act which provoked it and therefore freeing from its consequences both…
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1d
Hannah Arendt, born on this day in 1906, on human nature vs. culture, what equality really means, and how language confers reality upon our existence www.themarginalian.org/2017/04/04/h...
Hannah Arendt on Human Nature vs. Culture, What Equality Really Means, and How Our Language Confers Reality Upon Our Experience
“An experience makes its appearance only when it is being said. And unless it is said it is, so to speak, non-existent.”
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1d
Albert Camus on the will to live and the most important question of existence www.themarginalian.org/2016/11/07/c...
Albert Camus on the Will to Live and the Most Important Question of Existence
“The body’s judgment is as good as the mind’s… We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking.”
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1d
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

The life and legacy of e.e. cummings, born 131 years ago today, in a lovely illustrated tribute www.themarginalian.org/2015/03/30/e...
Enormous Smallness: The Sweet Illustrated Story of E. E. Cummings and His Creative Bravery
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1d
We Are Free to Change the World – Hannah Arendt (born on this day in 1906), the power of defiant goodwill, and the art of beginning afresh www.themarginalian.org/2024/03/15/w...
We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt, the Power of Defiant Goodwill, and the Art of Beginning Afresh
“It is when the experience of powerlessness is at its most acute, when history seems at its most bleak, that the determination to think like a human being, creatively, courageously, and compl…
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1d
On E.E. Cummings's birthday, his timeless manifesto for the courage to be yourself: www.themarginalian.org/2017/09/25/e...
The Courage to Be Yourself: E.E. Cummings on Art, Life, and Being Unafraid to Feel
“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight.”
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1d
Between owls and roses – Mary Oliver on the meaning of life www.themarginalian.org/2020/09/08/m...
Between Owls and Roses: Mary Oliver on the Meaning of Life
“The world where the owl is endlessly hungry and endlessly on the hunt is the world in which I live too. There is only one world.”
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1d
How to disappear – the art of listening to silence in a noisy world
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 1d
"At the end of my suffering
there was a door."

A benediction of a poem by Nobel laureate Louise Glück, who left us two years ago today www.themarginalian.org/2024/04/29/l...
The Wild Iris: Nobel Laureate Louise Glück on the Door at the End of Your Suffering
“Whatever returns from oblivion returns to find a voice.”
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 2d
The Little Gardener – a tender illustrated parable about the power of working with purpose and love www.themarginalian.org/2015/08/10/t...
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 2d
A stunning love poem to life at the horizon of death from Nobel laureate Louise Glück, who returned her borrowed stardust two years ago today www.themarginalian.org/2020/10/11/l...
Nobel Laureate Louise Glück’s Love Poem to Life at the Horizon of Death
A subtle, stunning serenade to the lifelong hunger for self-love and self-forgiveness.
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 2d
How to be a good explorer in the lifelong expedition to yourself www.themarginalian.org/2025/10/13/p...
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 2d
Einstein's wonderful letter of solidarity to his pal Marie Curie when she (yes, even she) was besieged by haters
www.themarginalian.org/2016/04/19/e...
Don’t Heed the Haters: Albert Einstein’s Wonderful Letter of Support to Marie Curie in the Midst of Scandal
“If the rabble continues to occupy itself with you, then simply don’t read that hogwash, but rather leave it to the reptile for whom it has been fabricated.”
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 2d
Turning loneliness and loss into wonder – how the Victorian visionary Marianne North revolutionized art and science with her botanical illustrations, for which she traveled to the ends of the world and nearly lost her life www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/23/m...
Turning Loss and Loneliness into Wonder: How the Victorian Visionary Marianne North Revolutionized Art and Science with Her Botanical Paintings
A vibrant foray into “a perfect world of wonders” fueled by the bittersweet dimension of life.
www.themarginalian.org
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 2d
How memory makes us and breaks us – the Rashomon effect and the science of how memories form and falter in the brain
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