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?
Work smarter, not harder.
Scrooge Mc Duck“Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source” - Iroh
And
“Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.” - Hitchhikers Guide
Dont think about things too much. Just accept it, and change accordingly with a response
Also from H2G2, behold the majestic : " -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 far rather be happy than right any day.
-And are you?
-Ah. No. Well that’s where it all falls down, of course "
I like it even better in the movie, Bill Nighy embodies this sentence perfectly.
Came for the second, stayed for the first
“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.
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!
Men are scared that women will laugh at them , women are scared that men will kill them.
“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.
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.
Rewatched that recently. I was really surprised how dark it sometimes gets for a kids’ show. It still holds up really well!
It’s 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.
It’s a poem by Stephen Crane, but so short I’m often reminded of it in full:
A man said to the universe:
”Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
It sounds nihilistic, but it’s somehow calming whenever I start to feel like I’ve been wronged or I’m owed a break of some sort.
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.
Golf: A nice walk, ruined.
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.
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.
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.
