Even better if you can provide your own understanding of its meaning.
Mine would be :
“Nothing kills a man as much as being forced to represent a country” (and err considering the context, I must stress it has nothing to do with the current US shitshow), by a WW1 soldier, illustrator and writer named Jacques Vaché.
For me it just means being forced into representing a group (national, of course, but maybe also social, racial, sexual, professional, any kind of group) or defining one’s identity only by reference to a group is to be avoided at all costs.
Note : Its not the same, imho, as engaging in a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.
How about you?
“Feelings are like children, you can’t let them drive, but you can’t put them in the trunk.”
But I feel that one has a ¨spiritual parent¨:
“Educate a child so you don’t have to reprimand an adult.”
and a ¨spiritual sibling¨:
“If your only tool is a Hammer then every problem looks like a Nail.”
This one’s my favourite
“(S)cience tends to progress through younger people, and old ideas tend to die with the originators of those ideas. through this cynical view, science progresses one coffin at a time.”
the Sting of the wild p142, J.O. Schmidt
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.” -Seneca
When we complain about not having enough time, we think of ourselves as being passively allocated an insufficient resource. But maybe the problem isn’t that life is too short, but that we waste much of the time we’re given.
I think this is relevant in these modern times more than ever. How much of our time goes to mindless scrolling, worrying about things beyond our control, or pursuing goals that don’t truly align with our values? We should be thinking about the difference between being busy and spending time meaningfully.
And that’s not to say all time spent should be something “productive”. Leisure time can be meaningful. But I think it’s worth even thinking about that. Are you truly happy with how you choose to spend your leisure time when you watch 100 short videos you probably won’t even remember? Or when you sit there getting angry or depressed about article after article after article? I think it’s worth thinking about.
Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
Earl Nightingale
Someone shared the phrase “The time will pass anyway” with me back when I was working on getting healthier. It was a constant reminder that there was no “best” day to start my journey and that anytime I was set back, I could pick things back up right away.
I have people in my life who think my level of patience is superhuman or some shit, but it’s just this. Don’t think about what you’re working towards, just what you should be doing today.
It seems simple to me, but I guess it’s not to them.
With that username and that quote, I expect that you are (like me) in your 60s.
The original anime.
Oh and there’s also this one ftom H2G2 :
Slartibartfast: Perhaps I’m old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what’s actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, “Hang the sense of it,” and keep yourself busy. I’d much rather be happy than right any day. Arthur Dent: And are you? Slartibartfast: Ah, no. [laughs, snorts] Slartibartfast: Well, that’s where it all falls down, of course
Douglas Adams was a gift to humanity.
“See first, think later, then test. But always see first” is a good one.
Wen in dbt breath deep
“Do to others as you want done too you” Wouldnt say its under rated just not actually followed by the masses that preach it but i prefer to say “dont treat people how you wouldnt want to be treated”
IMO some people take this too literally. Just because you want to be treated a certain way doesn’t mean other people want to be treated that way.
While that is true. i think it’s more on a deeper level that everyone just wants to be loved.
"They say, ‘Evil prevails when good men fail to act.’ What they ought to say is, ‘Evil prevails.’
Bleak quote from Lord of War that has stuck with me. Reminds me of Sophie Scholl.
I am reminded of: “The law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone; and it cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.”
The lesser known conclusion to Wilhoits Law.
https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”
I would be so far ahead of where I am right now if I had just decided on a course and committed instead of analyzing all the choices to death.
“Trust no one - not even yourself”
My dad told me this while going through a divorce. He was also going through a criminal trial due to his deviance.
Its one thing that stuck with me and I wish it didn’t.
Another one is from Lenin: " ‘There Are Decades Where Nothing Happens’ and ‘Weeks Where Decades Happen’ "
The Lenin one has been on my mind for like a year now. We’re coming up on the anniversary of the February revolution and I’m hoping that as things get worse we’ll see the point where we have had enough.
Plenty of big flash points at current. I think we are seeing capitalism in disrepair, similar to 1920 Europe, world powers are rebalancing and competing for the now very limited resources. The working class are taking the brunt of the hardship and seek real change, and when trump can’t make good on those promises we will see a real struggle.
Good luck out there comrade.
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. – Franz Kafka
Not so much a quote as a poem, but it’s brief so here’s the whole thing:
They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man, It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself.
- “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin
As for what it means to me, I think it speaks for itself. It’s bleak and devastating, yet beautiful. I love the elegance and simplicity of the writing. It’s the only poem I have memorized because it’s so aesthetically pleasing and emotionally resonant. It has stuck with me since I first heard it over 10 years ago.
It’s beautiful and I can understand why it sticks… Thanks for letting us know!!
Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee? But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.
~ Camus
The less you know about your history, the easier it is to imagine you’d always be on the right side of it.
I don’t necessarily think it’s underrated because it’s the underpinning of a major religion, but;
Existence is suffering.
The first noble truth of Buddhism that I don’t think enough people really grasp.
On first read, those three words sound like an angsty teen being all sad, but a deeper exploration tells us that to expect a life of ease and unending contentment is to set ourselves up for continued disappointment and anguish.
When I first really absorbed the meaning of this it actually made me feel incredible. I am alive, therefore my knee hurts. I am alive, so I’m worried for the welfare of those I love. And when I considered it even further I began to understand that this is something that connects us all, regardless of our status in the world. From the most powerful kings and presidents to those sleeping rough begging for change; we are all fundamentally the same.
For me, it’s really helped me to push through boundaries that have stopped me being more assertive with those who are more powerful than I am; managers, bosses and such. My boss worries about stuff the same way I do. It’s probably different stuff, sure, but he’s still experiencing existential pain.
I am not a Buddhist, nor am I particularly spiritual. But I take a lot of inspiration from that phrase.
I’ve gravitated more towards “desire is suffering”, but the general place avoiding desire has taken me is not great. That one was probably bullshit.
I think schopenhauer’s quote:
to overcome difficulties if to experience the full delight of existence context
is a corollary of sorts.
I buy a lottery ticket every week. Not because I think I stand a chance of winning but I am renting the idea that I could solve 95% of my problems instantly.
I wont win, I’ll still have problems I know this but that $10 a week is me renting hope.
