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?
“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.
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
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”
“Don’t follow people - follow ideas” which seems more relevant today than ever before it seems.
I think there is a quote somewhere from someone that says people talk about people, smarter people talk about facts and even smarter people talk about ideas. I am probably murdering the quote, but it was something like that.
It makes sense though, talking about other people doesn’t really provide much direction in life. Facts do provide more direction in life, but ideas really function as a pointer in a lot of situations when may not know what to do otherwise.
Yeah this quote really pivoted my life to a strong cosmopolitan view. By detaching ideas from people you can pick and choose and design your own philosophy and direction without attachment to exact people or inherited culture.
This is quite liberating mentally as solving cognitive dissonance is very expensive and theres an incredible amount of cognitive dissonance required to follow people who are often flawed or have conflicting ideas attached to them.
“Hurt people hurt people”
Ever since I heard this, I became relatively more compassionate towards people, even if they piss me off.
It is very true, and how trauma is passed on from generation to generation. If you can skip a generation or escape the trauma you are essentially the stopping point of that trauma.
But who hurt elon?
Having untold wealth is actually not that good for you in a lot of cases. Generally, getting everything you want all the time is not good for your brain.
Fortune favors the bold.
It was written in a graduation card from my grandfather.
“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.
I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned.
Richard Feynman
You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago. - Alan Watts
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.
Pirate Softeware?
The less you know about your history, the easier it is to imagine you’d always be on the right side of it.
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!!
Creative minds are uneven, and the best of fabrics have their dull spots.
H.P. Lovecraft
Given his political leanings, very appropriate.
TBH his writing style was a bit adjective-y too, although the world he built is fascinating. (I know less about his many letters and journals)
Yeah…I try to not dwell on his questionable (very wrong and racist) ideas he had, and focus on the cosmic horror. 100 % adjective-y (never really thought about his work like that, but it’s too true haha).
I just liked the quote disregarding his ideas. I even used it on the cover page of my thesis.
I do quite like the memes of HP’s most nightmarish situation being in an elevator with a Welsh person, or having AC. They’re pretty spot on.
Anyways, I just wanted to make sure no one thought I agree with his views, I just like the cosmic horror.
Yeah, sorry, didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I see how I did that now.
To give another example illustrating the quote, Tolkien called himself an anarcho-monarchist and meant it. His explanation did not make it clearer what that means.
“Who’s ‘we’, paleface?”
It’s from a silly joke, so it’s not meant to be taken seriously. But I remember it every time some politician or Internet dweller or anything in between uses “we” to describe a position, an opinion, etc. Who’s ‘we’? Do you dream to speak for others, for me? In my stead?
Love this one. Used to teach students in political science about the horrible thing that “political ventiloquism” is.
