Montesquieu
Battle of the Wolves
One evening an old Comanche told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said,
“My Son, there is a battle between two Wolves living inside us all.
One wolf is evil. It is anger, fear, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret. It is greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, perseverance, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.“
The Grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
“Which Wolf wins?“
The old Comanche replied simply,
“The one you feed.“
Carl Sagan: There are no stupid questions
“There is no such thing as a stupid question. Many people say that, but it really is true. Every question, no matter how ill-formed or ignorant of knowledge, is a request for knowledge, a request for information. It is an effort to understand better. Every time someone asks an honest question, it is an interrogation of nature, an attempt to unlock the secrets of the universe.”
Carl Sagan
“In becoming aware of oneself, of the various inward movements and fluctuations, one will understand the motives, the intentions, the perils that are hidden; and only in that awareness is there transformation.”
Krishnamurti, On Relationship
“I want someone who is fierce and will love me until death and knows that love is as strong as death, and be on my side forever and ever. I want someone who will destroy and be destroyed by me.”
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Ezzell on Rape Culture in Daily Life
“Most of us, in our daily lives, do not think about rape at all. Women, however, do. When I ask women what they do in their daily lives because of the threat of sexual violence, they offer a long list of actions and thought processes – everything from paying attention to where they park their cars to having a man’s voice on their answering machine to holding their keys as a weapon when walking across a parking lot.
Every action of women within a rape culture is tainted by that culture. Going to get their mail, driving to work, going out with friends – none of these actions is “free.” One way of thinking about this is to realize that regardless of the statistics about how many women experience a rape or attempted rape within their lifetime, 100% of women experience the threat of rape within a rape culture. This means that all women’s lives are impacted.”
Pornography, Lad Mags, Video Games and Boys:
Reviving the Canary in the Cultural Coalmine
Matthew B. Ezzell
Furstenburg on Absence, Love, Fire, and Self
“Absence is to love what the wind is to fire. When it’s a small fire the wind kills it, but when it’s a real fire it intensifies it. So the absence should do that. You see, the thing is that the most important relationship you have in your life is the relationship you have with yourself. Because no matter what happens you will always be with yourself.”
Diane von Furstenburg
“To dream anything that you want to dream. That’s the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.”
Bernard Edmonds
“All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.”
Buddha
Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”
“Humanity isn’t an end, it’s a fork in the road, and you have two options: “Animal” and “Superman”.
For some reason, people keep going left, the easy way, the way back to where we came from. Fuck ‘em. Other people just stand there, staring at the signposts, as if they’re going to come alive and tell them what to do or something.
Dude, the sign says fucking “SUPERMAN”.
How much more of a clue do these assholes want?
How does that not sound awesome?
But they’re paralyzed by their fear – “But, that road looks hard to walk.” It IS hard, dipshit, but that’s what makes it worth it! Fuck.”