Favorite Quotes

[Dave]

This quote from novelist and screenwriter Stephen Chbosky is very poignant when you think about it:

We accept the love we think we deserve.

Yup, those who exhibit a strong self-dislike or low self-esteem cannot understand how others might possibly like or value them. They tend to reflect their own perception onto others. A tough problem to solve.

[Arturo]

I've never felt that way. I guess I'm special~

[Biggus Dickus]

This isn't really a quote, but rather one of my favorite poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. (One of my favorite heathens and atheists0

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

This little bit from "Ode to the West Wind" is a good example to me his symbolization of the free and soaring spirit of humankind.

by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!

He was one of the first atheist that I encountered in my youth, having discovered him and his writings during my sophomore year of high school. In fact I did my final essay for a poetry class on "Ozymandias", and not only received an A from my teacher, but was asked to join the school poetry club.(I wasn't always so scholarly, trust me, in fact the opposite to the chagrin of my teachers...occasionally I would find motivation and show my potential as they said)

I also recommend his "The Necessity of Atheism", which led to his expsultion from Oxford. It opens with  "There is no God."

He also wrote.. "there can be no middle ground between accepting revealed religion and disbelieving in the existence of a diety". Which is another way of stating the necessity of atheism.

Oh well, today is sort of a melancholic Sunday isn't it?

[Icarus]

"There are in fact two things, science and opinion; The former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance".

Hippocrates

[joeactor]

There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Neither is independent of the other or more important than the other. Without art, science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science, art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery. The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous.
— "Great Thought" (19 February 1938), published in The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler (1976)

[Essie Mae]

I've never felt that way. I guess I'm special~

Maybe, but I'll never admit it.

[Biggus Dickus]

"Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant..."


Elie Wiesel - Portion of his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

[Icarus]

Jewish reality: Man makes plans ...God laughs.

[OldGit]

By a woman when asked who her baby's father was:

"No idea!  When you eat a can of beans you don't know which one makes you fart."

[Dave]

Jewish reality: Man makes plans ...God laughs.

I think Einstein alluded to that...

[xSilverPhinx]

[Icarus]

God bless Harper Lee.

[Biggus Dickus]

The first one is a quote for Chekhov, but the second part is a poem by Jane Kenyon. (You can listen to Amanda Palmer read the poem here)

If many remedies are prescribed
          for an illness, you may be certain
          that the illness has no cure.

          A. P. CHEKHOV
          The Cherry Orchard

"Having It Out with Melancholy,"
by Jane Kenyon

1     FROM THE NURSERY

When I was born, you waited
behind a pile of linen in the nursery,
and when we were alone, you lay down
on top of me, pressing
the bile of desolation into every pore.

And from that day on
everything under the sun and moon
made me sad — even the yellow
wooden beads that slid and spun
along a spindle on my crib.

You taught me to exist without gratitude.
You ruined my manners toward God:
"We're here simply to wait for death;
the pleasures of earth are overrated."

I only appeared to belong to my mother,
to live among blocks and cotton undershirts
with snaps; among red tin lunch boxes
and report cards in ugly brown slipcases.
I was already yours — the anti-urge,
the mutilator of souls.

2     BOTTLES

Elavil, Ludiomil, Doxepin,
Norpramin, Prozac, Lithium, Xanax,
Wellbutrin, Parnate, Nardil, Zoloft.
The coated ones smell sweet or have
no smell; the powdery ones smell
like the chemistry lab at school
that made me hold my breath.

3     SUGGESTION FROM A FRIEND

You wouldn't be so depressed
if you really believed in God.

4     OFTEN

Often I go to bed as soon after dinner
as seems adult
(I mean I try to wait for dark)
in order to push away
from the massive pain in sleep's
frail wicker coracle.

5     ONCE THERE WAS LIGHT

Once, in my early thirties, I saw
that I was a speck of light in the great
river of light that undulates through time.

I was floating with the whole
human family. We were all colors—those
who are living now, those who have died,
those who are not yet born. For a few

moments I floated, completely calm,
and I no longer hated having to exist.

Like a crow who smells hot blood
you came flying to pull me out
of the glowing stream.
"I'll hold you up. I never let my dear
ones drown!" After that, I wept for days.

6     IN AND OUT

The dog searches until he finds me
upstairs, lies down with a clatter
of elbows, puts his head on my foot.

Sometimes the sound of his breathing
saves my life — in and out, in
and out; a pause, a long sigh....

7     PARDON

A piece of burned meat
wears my clothes, speaks
in my voice, dispatches obligations
haltingly, or not at all.
It is tired of trying
to be stouthearted, tired
beyond measure.

We move on to the monoamine
oxidase inhibitors. Day and night
I feel as if I had drunk six cups
of coffee, but the pain stops
abruptly. With the wonder
and bitterness of someone pardoned
for a crime she did not commit
I come back to marriage and friends,
to pink fringed hollyhocks; come back
to my desk, books, and chair.

8     CREDO

Pharmaceutical wonders are at work
but I believe only in this moment
of well-being. Unholy ghost,
you are certain to come again.

Coarse, mean, you'll put your feet
on the coffee table, lean back,
and turn me into someone who can't
take the trouble to speak; someone
who can't sleep, or who does nothing
but sleep; can't read, or call
for an appointment for help.

There is nothing I can do
against your coming.
When I awake, I am still with thee.

9     WOOD THRUSH

High on Nardil and June light
I wake at four,
waiting greedily for the first
note of the wood thrush. Easeful air
presses through the screen
with the wild, complex song
of the bird, and I am overcome

by ordinary contentment.
What hurt me so terribly
all my life until this moment?
How I love the small, swiftly
beating heart of the bird
singing in the great maples;
its bright, unequivocal eye.

[Dave]

Russian historian and political figure, Iurii Afanasiev:

"We live in a country with an unpredicatable past."

Not only Russia methinks...

[Icarus]

The Jane Kenyon one is  a bit weird Bruno.