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Itβs a poem by Stephen Crane, but so short Iβm often reminded of it in full:
A man said to the universe:
βSir, I exist!β
βHowever,β replied the universe,
βThe fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.β
It sounds nihilistic, but itβs somehow calming whenever I start to feel like Iβve been wronged or Iβm owed a break of some sort.
"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.
Men are scared that women will laugh at them , women are scared that men will kill them.
You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago. - Alan Watts
Dad told me when I was young to "learn to drink your coffee black and cold and you'll never be disappointed."
I don't think he was just talking about coffee.
As in have low expectations of everything?
More like be grateful for what you're given
That's much more wholesome!
"Don't follow people - follow ideas" which seems more relevant today than ever before it seems.
I feel like this is most appropriate with politicians. No politician will be everything you want, but if they have a few policies you're into, they're worth your vote.
I think it applies outside of politics as well like art and even business.
Totally fair.
Hold on tightly, let go lightly.
The Croupier in Croupier.
It doesn't come with extra instructions, so it means what I want it to mean and someone else may have it mean something else entirely. For me it means hold on to the important things tightly while they are important and when they aren't then it is time to let them and other things go.
Don't carry things that don't need to be held onto, especially if you can't control them. I hold onto the memories of my sister both good and bad, I embrace the pain of her not being here anymore when they come, then I let the pain go because I keep ahold of the happiness she brought into people's lives while she was here.
Hmmm. I'll try to remember this one, thank you, that's a real gift.
Itβs always darkest before the dawn.
How I interpret it is that when things get bad, and reach a new level of bad, that could be just what is needed for the pendulum to swing the other way, and swing extra hard.
Kind of like a Great Depression giving labour laws kind of a thing.
Gives me hope.
I got two. First is just Hanlon's razor; "Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence"
The second one is a bit of a strange pick; its "But there's no sense crying over every mistake; You just keep on trying till you run out of cake."
Another version I've heard is "When you suspect a conspiracy you often only find incompetence"
I hate Hanlon's Razor. It's used as an excuse by and for too many malicious people lately.
Fortune favors the bold.
It was written in a graduation card from my grandfather.
I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned.
Richard Feynman
Rewatched that recently. I was really surprised how dark it sometimes gets for a kids' show. It still holds up really well!
Golf: A nice walk, ruined.
"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.
Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Those who know history are doomed to know it's repeating.
It's the second part that makes this otherwise well know phrase hit much closer to home for me.
Never tie your identity to something that can be taken away. Re: job title, salary, perceived status. Your self perceived identity should have a much more stable foundation.
"Who I am is where I stand.
Where I stand is where I fall."
-Steven Moffat, Doctor Who
I have a lot of darkness in my head due to my upbringing. I'll never get it out. That doesn't stop me from being a good man, because who you are and what you'll be remembered as isn't your internal struggle, its what you chose to stand for in practice.
Props to you for actually attributing the quote to the writer and not the character. It's a pet peeve of mine when people take profound sounding quotes and attribute it to a fictional character that never existed, never had real thoughts or opinions of their own
I agree it's good to credit a writer, but the attribution should also include the character so the quote has context. For example, I would want there to be a distinction between a comment I made in real life and a line I wrote for a psychotic character to say.
I hadn't thought of that before, and I can think of several characters who've said things I doubt the writers would want attributed to them. I just want to see quotes from fiction being clearly labeled as such, and not using the grandiose of a character's title to add weight to the quote.
For example when I see people quote Admiral William Adama on how when the military becomes the police, the people become the enemy of the state. That was Ron Moore writing a character for a show set in a post apocalyptic universe where the only survivors are hanging out on military ships, not a real world seasoned officer's opinion. Is it an interesting point worth discussing? Sure, but I'm not putting it in the same category of 5-Star General Dwight Eisenhower's warnings about the military industrial complex
I think it's a very interesting point. The whole concept of how fiction affects us is fascinating to me. Our idea of what it meant to be human used to come entirely from watching real people around us. Now we're exposed to hundreds of fictional characters, and we get to know some of them better than we know our actual friends. Despite objectively knowing they're fictional, they still influence our picture of what being a person means, because that's just how our brains work. I think most modern people have the feeling their own lives aren't as exciting or interesting or hilarious as they should be.
Sadly, pretty much all struggles against a common oppressor take on heavy identity characteristics and have the accompanying problems. It's the main reason they don't work immediately.
Anyway, probably "What I cannot build, I don't understand", by Richard Feynman (although the exact wording varies by source). If I write a book that's probably going to take up the first page.
"Everything you want in life has teeth", by the writer Jonathan Carroll. I believe it means that everything you pursue will hurt you in some way.
"Nobody will take care of you if you don't take care of yourself"
Apply this to pushing back on contracts, double checking what you're asked to do, and putting yourself first, and you'll get a lot more respect in my experience. If you primarily put others first, your self will feel neglected. It doesn't mean you should not care for others, but that your highest priority should be yourself, and then others.
A life lesson I'll learn one day. Trying my best though, but it'll take time. Thanks for sharing.
"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.
The worst decisions make the best stories. - *Unknown *
You can't leave the party if you can't find the door. Randall Jacobs, aka Uncle Bunky
You don't need to do everything every day. Some days, surviving is enough.
"You know, sweetheart, if there's one thing I've learned, it's this: nobody knows what's gonna happen at the end of the line, so you might as well enjoy the trip." Manny Calavera