"I want life, all of life, the miserable as well as the superb"

Earlier this month, I decided I was going to re-read one of my favorite books from high school, Jitterbug Perfume. I wanted to see how I would feel after reading it and if I would still enjoy the humor. 

I’ve fallen in love with it all over again. For those of you have read it, you may think I’m taking this story to whole other level – yes, it is raunchy at parts – but in the end it is a great story about the individual. And the afterlife. And beets. Rather than writing about the story, I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes. Enjoy.

If desire causes suffering, it may be because we do not desire wisely, or that we are inexpert at obtaining "If desire causes suffering, it may be because we do not desire wisely, or that we are inexpert at obtaining what we desire. Instead of hiding our heads in a prayer cloth and building walls against temptation, why not get better at fulfilling desire? Salvation is for the feeble, that's what I think. I don't want salvation, I want life, all of life, the miserable as well as the superb. If the gods would tax ecstasy, then I shall pay; however, I shall protest their taxes at each opportunity, and if Woden or Shiva or Buddha or that Christian fellow--what's his name?--cannot respect that, then I'll accept their wrath. At least I will have tasted the banquet that they have spread before me on this rich, round planet, rather than recoiling from it like a toothless bunny. I cannot believe that the most delicious things were placed here merely to test us, to tempt us, to make it the more difficult for us to capture the grand prize: the safety of the void. To fashion of life such a petty game is unworthy of both men and gods."

"Our individuality is all, all, that we have. There are those who barter it for security, those who repress it for what they believe is the betterment of the whole society, but blessed in the twinkle of the morning star is the one who nurtures and rides it, in grace and love and wit, from peculiar station to peculiar station along life's bittersweet route.”

"To eliminate the agitation and disappointment of desire, we need but awaken to the fact that we have everything we want and need right now."

"By identifying with our desires and taking them too seriously, we not only increase our susceptibility to disappointment, we actually create a climate inhospitable to the free and easy fulfillment of those desires."

"They weren't as much fun, anymore, the poor homers; they were straining so desperately for admission to paradise that they had forgotten that paradise had always been their address."

"Persons, says Wiggs, who lack curiosity about life, who find minimal joy in existence, are all to willing, subconsciously, to cooperate with-and attract-disease, accident, and violence."