Some Quotes for May 2025 (#37)
Simone Weil, Cate Hall, John F. Kennedy, Ocean Vuong, George Bernard Shaw, Spencer Greenberg, Dynomight, Maya Angelou
Link = source I've actually read/endorse. No link = random, out-of-context snippet I stumbled on, usually online. (Some of these are advice—others I just enjoy the language or sentiment.)
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. –Simone Weil
From “Maybe You’re Not Actually Trying”: [Y]ou just put up with it. Or, worse, you fight through your anxiety using an earlier solution that required willpower, and the exertion of willpower makes you feel like you’re trying. But the feeling of effort doesn’t mean that you’re Actually Trying. –
Victory has a hundred fathers, and defeat is an orphan. –John F. Kennedy
From NYT’s “The Interview”: I’ve never seen anyone commit violence and feel joy after. But it’s almost like the doorway’s in the middle of a field, and you’re like, My goodness, I can take one step to the side and the whole world is before me…In a way, my career so far has been a slow attempt at stepping back from that door. –Ocean Vuong
Nothing is ever accomplished by a reasonable man. –George Bernard Shaw
Aim not to avoid anything valuable just because it makes you feel awkward, anxious, or afraid. –Spencer Greenberg
From “How to Title Your Blog Post or Whatever”: Consider title-driven thing creation. That is, consider first choosing a title and then creating a thing that delivers on the title. It’s sad to admit, but I think there are many good things that simply don’t have good titles. Consider not making those things. The cynical view of this is that without a good title, no one will read your thing, so why bother? The optimistic view is that we’re all drowning in content, so what the world actually needs is good things that can find their way to the people who will benefit from them. In practice, it’s often something in the middle: You start to create your thing, then you choose a title, then you structure your thing to deliver on the title. –
“For example” is not proof. –Yiddish proverb
From The Paris Review’s "Art of Fiction": Courage [is] the most important of all the virtues. Without that virtue you can’t practice any other virtue with consistency. –Maya Angelou'