What's the underrated quote that will stick with you for life?
What's the underrated quote that will stick with you for life?
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
You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago. - Alan Watts
I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned.
Richard Feynman
"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.
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?
I like it. Remember where it's from?
A former mentor of mine, and I found it rather compelling the more I reflected on the implications.
"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
Thank you! I try to, even though at the end of the day the best you can do is the show runner that signed off on it, as you'll never really know who invented it in the writer's room.
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.
"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.
"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
"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.
Rewatched that recently. I was really surprised how dark it sometimes gets for a kids' show. It still holds up really well!
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
The worst decisions make the best stories. - Unknown
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.
You can't leave the party if you can't find the door. Randall Jacobs, aka Uncle Bunky
"republicans are pussies" - me. thanks
"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.
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.
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.
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.
Being rich doesn't mean to have a lot. Being rich means to have enough.
I found the quote in "The moral letters to Lucilium" by Seneca, but maybe he isn't an author.
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.
"Do to others as you want done too you" Wouldnt say its under rated just not actually followed by the masses that preach it but i prefer to say "dont treat people how you wouldnt want to be treated"
IMO some people take this too literally. Just because you want to be treated a certain way doesn't mean other people want to be treated that way.
While that is true. i think it's more on a deeper level that everyone just wants to be loved.
It's all so tiresome - Lao Yang in the 2011 documentary Empire of Dust
Something my grandpa said, sometime around 2006-2007 I think.
"The next world war, will be between the rich and and the poor, and the rich will win before the poor knows there's a war."
This is unfortunate, but at the rate we are currently going this might come into fruition. 😢
I believe the first part is already occuring, it's the last half that I hope is wrong.
"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.
This makes a song I've been listening to make more sense. "Gary" by Dave Hause. I was interpreting the line as "Hurt People. Hurt people..." Instead of "Hurt people hurt people". Thanks!
"If they knew better, they'd do better."
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.
His father is a real piece of shit. Like evej when compared to Elon. But also he grew up in a society defined by a particular level of violence. Even though he was the privileged group there the violence was still present and there was violence to all, including the violence to teach the white children to be the oppressors.
I mean, he's autistic in addition to being a bad person, so probably a large collection of people throughout his life who may or may not have even comprehended his side of the interaction. Comorbidity of autism with severe mental health problems is stupid high.
That being said, the cycle would have died out long ago if some people weren't dicks for no reason as well.
Yes. It's a doozy but true.
The opposite of love is not hate, but apathy.
Truly hating something takes passion, energy and time out of your day. It also taught me that for masters of personal interest, if you truly need to end a relationship with someone, you simply stop responding. It’s far more effective than loudly proclaiming what you feel they do wrong. That will take far more away from you than if you cut ties.
the opposite of 2 is not 0
"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country." ~ Kurt Vonnegut
"Feelings are like children, you can't let them drive, but you can't put them in the trunk."
But I feel that one has a ¨spiritual parent¨:
"Educate a child so you don't have to reprimand an adult."
and a ¨spiritual sibling¨:
"If your only tool is a Hammer then every problem looks like a Nail."
This one’s my favourite
"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." -A clump of talking stars in Futurama I look at it like being a good custodian or someone who takes pride in the smallest details of their work, regardless of whether or not you receive recognition for them. Most people don't notice the effort being put in when things are running smoothly. The work of the people behind the scenes is directly responsible for successes in the spotlight.
This is what IT feels like. Everything is working? What do we pay those guys for?
Everything is not working? What do we pay those guys for?
That's a loose quote from the Tao te ching.
Interesting. Something new to look up!
"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." - Winnie-the-Pooh
I didn't read Winnie-the-Pooh till I was an adult and when I read this it felt like reading a universal truth everyone should know. It nearly brought me to tears.
It sounds like you might like "The Tao of Pooh".
"It'll never be the same"
In context, meaning that things can never go back to the way they were... Ever.For me it's like a grounding statement. Whenever I start thinking about some past time and just want things to go back to how they were, I remember this. My mind shifts to the future and I forget that nostalgic feeling because I remember that it can never be.
Oh, yeah. There's another one like this for me, a very short poem I read when I was a teenager :
"Ah, what are they dreaming...? Those who say, say, say... Yesterday I was there, today I was here"
The less you know about your history, the easier it is to imagine you'd always be on the right side of it.
That'll do Donkey.. That'll do.
Edit. I mean it. That calming way shrek says it. The idea that enough has been done, and that everything is OK. That I'm ok. It's a lovely, and powerful moment in the film that translates to so many day to day situations.
Have you seen Babe? That's where that quote is from originally
I love that movie. Super disappointed that the pig was essentially a baby. They didn't have a adult pig in that movie to showcase how big they get.
I wanted a pig as a pet but the smallest pigs are 150 lbs!
I say "That'll do pig" almost daily. It's basically a tic for me at this point.
I have yes. And I'd forgotten. Thank you. Adds an extra layer.
That's so lovely!
The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sang best
"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt" - Often wrongly attributed to Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln but the earliest record is Maurice Switzer
Mine is similar, but said by Plato. ”Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something”
"They say, 'Evil prevails when good men fail to act.' What they ought to say is, 'Evil prevails.'
Bleak quote from Lord of War that has stuck with me. Reminds me of Sophie Scholl.
I am reminded of: "The law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone; and it cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone."
The lesser known conclusion to Wilhoits Law.
https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
Comparison is the thief of joy. I think a lot of people could do with that one.
Be excellent to each other and party on dudes.
Genuinely how I try to live my life, be kind and helpful to others and enjoy myself doing it.
"(S)cience tends to progress through younger people, and old ideas tend to die with the originators of those ideas. through this cynical view, science progresses one coffin at a time."
the Sting of the wild p142, J.O. Schmidt
Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
Earl Nightingale
Someone shared the phrase "The time will pass anyway" with me back when I was working on getting healthier. It was a constant reminder that there was no "best" day to start my journey and that anytime I was set back, I could pick things back up right away.
I have people in my life who think my level of patience is superhuman or some shit, but it's just this. Don't think about what you're working towards, just what you should be doing today.
It seems simple to me, but I guess it's not to them.
With that username and that quote, I expect that you are (like me) in your 60s.
The original anime.
“No matter where you go, there you are.”
Made absolutely no sense to me when I was younger. Now, I get that it means changing one’s location or situation in an effort to avoid something doesn’t work. You’re still you, you’re there, and the problem still exists. Obviously some situations can be improved by leaving them, so the statement isn’t completely correct, but there’s plenty of truth to it.
“You can never go home again” also used to bug me, because of course you can physically return to the places you grew up. But if you’ve been away a good while the place you grew up in might have changed, the people will have changed, and you will also have changed. Home will be where you have made a new life. Your old home will be like trying to put on a shoe you haven’t worn in a few years. Yeah, it fits, but it doesn’t feel right. It’s not comfortable like it used to feel. Home isn’t there anymore. I kinda envy some people that I know who never left my hometown. They have the same friends, been hanging out for years, still get together for family stuff…but at the same time I’ve experienced a shitload more than they have. My original home doesn’t exist for me anymore.
My wife struggles with that second one a lot and I wish I knew how to help her.
Ramble
She's built up this golden fantasy of her childhood and where she's from, and she blames so much of what I file away as "normal life bs" on where we live now. Every time we visit her hometown I see the same problems there that she blames on where we live.
She has a hard time seeing the benefits of where we live now because she grew up in a tight knit extended family that closed the gaps so to speak. But that extended family has drifted apart. People have grown up. The old matriarchs and patriarchs have passed. That same tight knit family doesn't exist anymore in the way it used to.
She basically had a high quality, premade social group and support structure just handed to her growing up. She moved states and life events kept getting in the way of her building a new one. But she blames that on location rather than what is now a lack of effort. Issues she overlooked long ago (and still) with family are things she can't let go of when faced with them in potential friends.
And ultimately, the loss of these things just brings her sadness and depression. She's not in a state where she's interested in trying to make it work beyond saying she wants to verbally. Pretty textbook depression but there's complications right now in the way of her seeking help.
Apologies for the ramble/off my chest shit.
Sorry you and your wife are dealing with that. Kinda reminds me of an old saw: within two years of marriage you will move to within two miles of your mother in law. Sounds like maybe that’s what your wife was after with the support structure of family. FWIW “benefits” might be subjective…what one person considers beneficial may not have the same importance to another.
"You can never go home again... but you can shop there."
"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.
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
George Orwell, 1984
Mine is not as deep as yours and kind of cheesy since you see them in posters, Tshirts and stickers etc. it’s “pain is temporary, glory is forever.” This sentence helped me get through college while working mad hours just to pay for my tuition while writing essays and studying for exams. I would repeat this over and over to myself just to get through that day or moment hoping things would be better.
"Bones heal, chicks dig scars, and the United States of America has the best doctor to daredevil ratios in the world!"
Thanks Lance Murdock!
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim, swim
Underrated Dory wisdom
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!!
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. -- Franz Kafka
It's not a party if it happens every night
Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee? But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.
~ Camus
"History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake" - Stephen Daedalus in Ulysses by James Joyce.
You don't need to do everything every day. Some days, surviving is enough.
Oh and there's also this one ftom H2G2 :
Slartibartfast: 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 much rather be happy than right any day. Arthur Dent: And are you? Slartibartfast: Ah, no. [laughs, snorts] Slartibartfast: Well, that's where it all falls down, of course
Douglas Adams was a gift to humanity.
"See first, think later, then test. But always see first" is a good one.
"we are born alone, we live alone, and we die alone. it is only through love and relationships that we create the illusion that we are not alone"
If the point of this one is to emphasize how no one lives your life except for you, that’s great and all but holy shit there are less depressing ways of getting that across.
Humanity is a social animal. If you live your life under the guidance that loneliness is omnipresent and companionship is merely an illusion I strongly urge you to rethink the way you go about your days. Find people to talk to in person and do things with them.
I think capitalism and the ruling class has desperately tried to convince everyone that they are alone because if the working class sees themself as one body the ruling class is fucked
"Time flies, time crawls You're a prisoner trapped between its claws Life sucks, sometimes You gotta learn to live between the lines"
Pretty much as written. Time marches forward no matter how I feel about it. My best friend died, people still sat in traffic on the way to work. My wife said she wanted a divorce, the mailman still brought me bills. I made the best chilli I've ever tasted and my neighbors cat disappeared. You gotta learn to just accept that life is fleeting and carve out your own space. Find your own joy. Bring your own good time. Because life doesn't owe you anything and moaning about it won't make things better.
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to deathPretty much as written.
As one long breath with no breaks?
The pleasure of being understood is underrated
- Simon Baker portraying Patrick Jane in The Mentalist
Oof. I felt that.
“The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding” Dipen Parmar
Don't be upsetti, eat some spaghetti.
Sounds silly but genuinely helps me not get too upset about things I don't hold much power over. At the end of the day I can still make a pot of spaghetti and enjoy it. I like spaghetti.
I don't necessarily think it's underrated because it's the underpinning of a major religion, but;
Existence is suffering.
The first noble truth of Buddhism that I don't think enough people really grasp.
On first read, those three words sound like an angsty teen being all sad, but a deeper exploration tells us that to expect a life of ease and unending contentment is to set ourselves up for continued disappointment and anguish.
When I first really absorbed the meaning of this it actually made me feel incredible. I am alive, therefore my knee hurts. I am alive, so I'm worried for the welfare of those I love. And when I considered it even further I began to understand that this is something that connects us all, regardless of our status in the world. From the most powerful kings and presidents to those sleeping rough begging for change; we are all fundamentally the same.
For me, it's really helped me to push through boundaries that have stopped me being more assertive with those who are more powerful than I am; managers, bosses and such. My boss worries about stuff the same way I do. It's probably different stuff, sure, but he's still experiencing existential pain.
I am not a Buddhist, nor am I particularly spiritual. But I take a lot of inspiration from that phrase.
I've gravitated more towards "desire is suffering", but the general place avoiding desire has taken me is not great. That one was probably bullshit.
I think schopenhauer's quote:
to overcome difficulties if to experience the full delight of existence context
is a corollary of sorts.
I buy a lottery ticket every week. Not because I think I stand a chance of winning but I am renting the idea that I could solve 95% of my problems instantly.
I wont win, I'll still have problems I know this but that $10 a week is me renting hope.
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.
Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.
No matter how many books , videos you see , you cannot learn how to swim without entering the pool.
A evergreen quote:
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Life's tough for everyone
-Grandpa
"Someone once said that love is the best medicine. He was wrong, though; its crack." Source Unknown
Perhaps today is a good day to die. Prepare for ramming speed!
Hitchens on the death of Jerry Falwell: "If they gave his corpse an enema, they could bury him in a matchbox."
I told you I was ill vibes
"Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for bad trouble." Peter Clemenza, The Godfather
Recently, I learned about a historical quote, from French PM Daladier on his way back from Munich where he knew he gave everything to Hitler.
He got out his plane, expecting to be lynched or thrown oranges at, and people, when he realized people were praising him as a herald of "peace", let out this magnificent "Ah.. what a bunch of idiots".
Wen in dbt breath deep
"be someones angel"
quote from this little video that really stuck with me, as silly as it might sound
I suppose it's less about the quote origin and more about what we make it to mean :)
“It only ever ends once, everything before that is just progress” -Jacob from lost lol
a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.
What do you think WW1 was about?
Aristocrats throwing peasants at each other.
Maybe you're thinking of WW2.
And yet, a WWI soldier uttered that phrase. I suppose he did not share this view of WW1. Or he couldn't have wrote that.
"Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” -- G. Michael Hopf
"If you want justice, go to a whorehouse. If you wanna get fucked, go to court.":: Primal Fear
Rated by whom?