On Work
[…]You need to train yourself to love the work. The boring stuff, which doesn’t feel exciting or thrilling or really like much at all. It’s not reaching the mountaintop or slaying the dragon, but putting one foot in front of the other, day after day.
Scott H. Young, “Success is Boring“
Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is.
[…]
Maybe we weren’t meant for paradise. Maybe we were meant to fight our way through. Struggle, claw our way up, scratch for every inch of the way. Maybe we can’t stroll to the music of the lute. We must march to the sound of drums.
William Shatner, as Captain James T. Kirk, in “This Side of Paradise”
On Writing
It starts out with a tiny burst of bright light inside the mind, and as it shimmers, the sensation spreads downward, becoming a dull itch beneath the skin—formulation, doubt, despair, livid determination. The pencil is only inches from my left hand, but I leave it untouched, tapping my fingers against the empty coffee mug, watching rain fall in the backyard.
I’ve learned to savor this brief moment of tantalizing anticipation, like watching her undress.Because once I begin, writing is nothing like making love. It’s a monster, a bad trip. That dull itch becomes sharper and slices up my insides with every imperfect word,
and there are many. And I keep wanting it more.
Shane Burcaw, “Laughing at My Nightmare” (Blog)
On Disability
I will consider it a privilege if, when I die, the headline reads “last man diagnosed with cerebral palsy passes away”. No one should have to live with a disability and we, as the disabled community, should be the strongest and most positive voice for cure and prevention
The Urban Cripple (Tumblr)
On Love
True love — that is, deep, abiding love that is impervious to emotional whims or fancy — is a choice. It’s a constant commitment to a person regardless of the present circumstances. It’s a commitment to a person who you understand isn’t going to always make you happy — nor should they! — and a person who will need to rely on you at times, just as you will rely on them.
That form of love is much harder. Primarily because it often doesn’t feel very good. It’s unglamorous. It’s lots of early morning doctor’s visits. It’s cleaning up bodily fluids you’d rather not be cleaning up. It’s dealing with another person’s insecurities and fears and ideas, even when you don’t want to.
But this form of love is also far more satisfying and meaningful. And, at the end of the day, it brings true happiness, not just another series of highs.
Mark Manson, 1,500 People Give All the Relationship Advice You’ll Ever Need
We can at this point state boldly: Romanticism has been a disaster for our relationships. It is an intellectual and spiritual movement which has had a devastating impact on the ability of ordinary people to lead successful emotional lives.
Alain DeButton, How Romanticism Ruined Love (Video Version)
On Life and mortality
[…] There are people who want to go on and on and are in quest of immortality, and have their bodies frozen in case there should develop in the future some technique by which they could be revived. But I really don’t go for that idea because nature has mercifully arranged the principle of forgettery as well as the principle of memory. If you always, and always, and always remembered everything, you see, you would be like a piece of paper which had been painted over, and painted over, and painted over, until there was no space left and you wouldn’t be able to distinguish between one thing and another.
Alan Watts, The More It Changes
On Logic
The thing about logic is that Logic is infallable, but its only as good as your assumed truths
Ross Scott, Accursed Farms Youtube channel
On Humility
[T]here is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.
Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
On Violence in Videogames
“Detractors [of videogames] point to increased aggression, failing to realize that increased aggression follows all forms of competition and stress, and that this aggression might be a necessary outlet — once poured out upon the living — but now relegated to the digital. It would not surprise me if video games and porn actually did help reduce rape and other violent crimes by providing people with an outlet that has no consequence, because all of their victims are digital and artificial.”
Dark Antics, Are Video Games Immoral?
On Sovereign Citizens
There are some dangerous Sovereign Citizens out there but the majority of Sovereign Citizens are harmless buffoons. A lack of understanding of the laws and the reasoning behind them make these individuals prime targets. They are the legal equivalent to Flat-Earthers who lack basic scientific understanding.
Reddit (Anonymous)
To Sovereign Citizens police and courts are magical because these dupes don’t understand what’s going on. They see police and lawyers performing magic with words and they think by simply mimicking other magic words, it will also produce results.