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Post by Tamrin on Jan 22, 2014 6:21:50 GMT 10
There are poisons that blind you, and poisons that open your eyes
Life is not so idiotically mathematical that only the big eat the small; it is just as common for a bee to kill a lion or at least to drive it mad
We are already in Hell. It is the earth itself that is Hell, the prison constructed for us by an intelligence superior to our own, in which I could not take a step without injuring the happiness of others, and in which my fellow creatures could not enjoy their own happiness without causing me pain
It's wonderful how, the moment you talk about God and love, your voice becomes hard, and your eyes fill with hatred. No, Margret, you certainly haven't the true faith
I, too, am beginning to feel an immense need to become a savage and create a new world
This feeling of power, it's happiness to sit in a cottage by the Danube among six women who think I'm semi-idiot, and to know that in Paris, the headquarters of intelligence, 500 people are sitting dead-quiet in the auditorium and are foolish enough to expose their brains to my powers of suggestion. Some revolt! But many will go away with my spores in their gray matter. They will go home pregnant with the seed of my soul, and they will breed my brood
Those who won't accept evil never get anything goodAugust StrindbergSwedish playwright, novelist, poet and painter ( The Secret of the Guild) (Born this day 1849) I dream, therefore I exist
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 22, 2014 6:22:45 GMT 10
So much perfection argues rottenness somewhere
If I had been a man, self-respect, family pressure and the public opinion of my class would have pushed me into a money-making profession; as a mere woman I could carve out a career of disinterested research
If a weakly mortal is to do anything in the world besides eat the bread thereof, there must be a determined subordination of the whole nature to the one aim no trifling with time, which is passing, with strength which is only too limited
Renunciation — that is the great fact we all, individuals and classes, have to learn. In trying to avoid it we bring misery to ourselves and others
Work is the best of narcotics, providing the patient be strong enough to take it. I dread idleness as if it were Hell
I shall have the veil withdrawn and be allowed to gaze unblinded on the narrow limits of my own possibilities
Religion is love; in no case is it logicBeatrice Potter WebbEnglish economist, Fabian and labour historian (Born this day 1858) If I ever felt inclined to be timid as I was going into a room full of people, I would say to myself, 'You're the cleverest member of one of the cleverest families in the cleverest class of the cleverest nation… why should you be frightened?
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 22, 2014 6:25:18 GMT 10
To be aware that we are asleep is to be on the point of waking; and to be aware that we are only partially awake is the first condition of becoming and making ourselves more fully awake
It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them... At least he who reaches will get a good stretch, a good view, and perhaps even a low-hanging apple for his efforts
To any intelligent being, there is no emotion more important than hope. Individually or collectively, we must hope that the future will be better than the past, that our offspring, and theirs after them, will be a bit closer to an ideal society, whatever our perception of that might be ... It is at those times when we feel we are contributing to that ultimate end ... we feel true elation
We — at least we of sincere character — always judge ourselves by stricter standards than we expect others to abide by. It is a curse, I suppose, or a blessing, depending on how one views it
The meekest of animals will fight bravely when it is backed against a wall, for it has nothing left to lose. A poor man is more deadly than a rich man because he puts less value on his own life
Guilt resembles a sword with two edges. On the one hand, it cuts for Justice, imposing practical morality upon those who fear it. But there is another side to that weighted emotion. Conscience does not always adhere to rational judg- ment. Guilt is always a self-imposed burden, but it is not always rightly imposed
There is a wide world out there, my friend, full of pain, but filled with joy as well. The former keeps you on the path of growth, and the latter makes the journey tolerableAlfred OrageBritish intellectual (Gurdjieff school) (Born this day 1873) You can win a million battles but you can only lose one
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 22, 2014 6:28:14 GMT 10
History is at once freedom and necessity
The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new can- not be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear
Man is above all else mind, consciousness — that is, he is a product of history, not of nature
I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will
The point of modernity is to live a life without illusions while not becoming disillusioned
All men are intellectuals, but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals
If you beat your head against the wall, it is your head that breaks and not the wallAntonio GramsciItalian philosopher and political theorist ( Prison Notebooks) ( stood up for Freemasonry against Fascists) (Born this day 1891) Alive, I am a partisan. That is why I hate the ones that don’t take sides, I hate the indifferent
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 22, 2014 6:35:11 GMT 10
The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of them
A marriage is no amusement but a solemn act, and generally a sad one
All marriage is such a lottery — the happiness is always an exchange — though it may be a very happy one — still the poor woman is bodily and morally the husband's slave. That always sticks in my throat. When I think of a merry, happy, and free young girl — and look at the ailing aching state a young wife is generally doomed to — which you can't deny is the penalty of marriage
Being pregnant is an occupational hazard of being a wife
An ugly baby is a very nasty object — and the prettiest is frightful
I am most anxious to enlist everyone who can speak or write to join in checking this mad, wicked folly of "Women's Rights," with all its attendant horrors, on which her poor feeble sex is bent, forgetting every sense of womanly feelings and propriety. Feminists ought to get a good whipping. Were woman to "unsex" themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of begins and would surely perish without male protection. I love peace and quiet, I hate politics and turmoil. We women are not made for governing, and if we are good women, we must dislike these masculine occupations
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not existQueen VictoriaMonarch of Great Britain & its dominions and Empress of India (Died this day 1901) Oh, that peace may come!(last words, referring to the war in South Africa)
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 22, 2014 6:38:33 GMT 10
What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs — I was a man before I was a king
Gleaming shell of an outworn lie; fable of Right divine — You gained your crowns by heritage, but Blood was the price of mine. The throne that I won by blood and sweat , by Crom, I will not sell for promise of valleys filled with gold, or threat of the Halls of Hell!
It is not pleasant to come upon Death in a lonely place at midnight
Mayhap I shall find curious adventure—mayhap my doom awaits me. But better death than the ceaseless and everlasting urge, the fire that has burned my veins with bitter longing
Barbarism is the natural state of mankind. Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph
Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content
I have never yet done a man to death by torture, but by God, sir, you tempt me!Robert E. HowardAmerican writer ( Conan the Barbarian) (Born this day 1906) Civilized nations never, never have selfish motives for butchering, raping and looting; only horrid barbarians have those
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 22, 2014 6:40:43 GMT 10
Wars begin in the minds of men, and in those minds, love and compassion would have built the defenses of peace
The war we have to wage today has only one goal, and that is to make the world safe for diversity
The concept of peaceful coexistence has been criticized by many who do not see the need to make the world safe for diversity. I wonder if they have ever paused to ask themselves the question: What is the alternative to coexistence?
Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves. This, as the sages of many lands have taught us, is a golden rule in individual and group, as well as international, relations
As a Buddhist, I was trained to be tolerant of everything except intolerance
I was brought up not only to develop the spirit of tolerance but also to cherish moral and spiritual qualities such as modesty, humility, compassion, and, most important, to attain a certain degree of emotional equilibrium
I don't like to be disturbed at home; I tell the cable office not to call me before 6:30 AM, unless there's a warU ThantBurmese diplomat, 3 rd UN Secretary-General (Born this day 1909) It is far from my intention to claim that I have reached a very high stage on the path to attain- ment of the highest wisdom, or that I have attained complete "inner peace." However, I can claim that I practice bhavana every day. I try to cultivate the ethical aspects of Buddhism, and I believe that I have attained a greater degree of emotional equilibrium than most people
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 23, 2014 7:36:12 GMT 10
Quotes for the Day:Only great minds can afford a simple style
Mathematics allows for no hypocrisy and no vagueness
All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few
If you think of paying court to the men in power, your eternal ruin is assured
The first qualification for a historian is to have no ability to invent
One can acquire everything in solitude — except character
Friendship has its illusions no less than loveBro. Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), French writer (Born this day 1783) God's only excuse is that he does not exist
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 23, 2014 7:38:44 GMT 10
Where laws end, tyranny begins
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves
Poverty of course is no disgrace, but it is damned annoying
We owe our present happiness and prosperity, which has never been equaled in the annals of mankind, to a mixture of monarchical government
A long train of these practices has at length unwillingly convinced me that there is something behind the throne greater than the King himself
You may take from me, Sir, the privileges and emoluments of place, but you cannot, and you shall not, take from me those habitual and warm regards for the prosperity of Great Britain which constitute the honour, the happiness, the pride of my life, and which, I trust, death alone can extinguish
Prostrate the beauteous ruin lies; and all that shared its shelter perish in its fallWilliam Pitt, the YoungerBritish Prime Minister (1783 - 1801 & 1804 - 1806) (exempted Freemasonry from the Unlawful Societies Act, 1799) (Died this day 1806) My country! How I leave my country!(last words)
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Post by Tamrin on Jan 23, 2014 7:39:37 GMT 10
American history contains much matter for pride and congratulation, and much matter for regret and humiliation
The American economic, political, and social organization has given to its citizens the benefits of material prosperity, political liberty, and a wholesome natural equality; and this achievement is a gain, not only to Americans, but to the world and to civilization
Let it be immediately added, however, that this economic independence and prosperity has always been absolutely associated in the American mind with free political institutions
The moral and social aspiration proper to American life is, of course, the aspiration vaguely described by the word democratic; and the actual achievement of the American nation points towards an adequate and fruitful definition of the democratic ideal
Democracy may mean something more than a theoretically absolute popular government, but it assuredly cannot mean anything less
Unless the great majority of Americans not only have, but believe they have, a fair chance, the better American future will be dangerously compromised
The popular will cannot be taken for granted, it must be createdHerbert CrolyUS political philosopher writer and editor (Born this day 1869) The only fruitful promise of which the life of any individual or any nation can be possessed, is a promise determined by an ideal
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