💬 Kierkegaard on the joys of living in a city and the delight of being attentive to strangers, from his journals:
“Precisely for this reason is life in the city so entertaining to him who knows how to find in human beings a delight which is more enduring and yields bigger returns than getting a thousand men to acclaim one for half an hour. Any person, if he had an open eye, may lead a life rich in enjoyment, merely by paying attention to others; and he who has his own work to do would do well to take heed not to be too much imprisoned by it.
But how pitiful to miss what costs nothing: no entrance fee, no expense for banquets, no dues to one’s society, no inconvenience and trouble; what costs the rich and the poor equally little and yet is the richest enjoyment, to miss an instruction which is not obtained from a particular teacher but en passant from any person whatsoever, from conversation with someone unknown, from every accidental contact.”
Describing movement through a city crowd as going “en passant” (a very unique chess move where a pawn steals the other by moving diagonally behind it) is so creative and clever. I think of it often being in NYC.
#neverbored