Some Quotes for October 2024 (#30)
Jan Houtema, Toba Spitzer, Kurt Vonnegut, Isaac Asimov, Valarie Kaur, William Strunk, Jr., Richard Rorty, Mickey Mouse, Oscar Wilde, Ray Bradbury
Link = source I've actually read/endorse. No link = random, out-of-context snippet I was able to track down on the internet. (Some of these are advice—others I just enjoy the language or sentiment.)
Your twenties are always an apprenticeship, but you don't always know what for. –Jan Houtema
From God Is Here: The tendency of our minds is to spend very little time in the present moment. We’re usually digging around in the past, or imagining the future, or off in a fantasy…We use the body as an anchor because, unlike our minds, it has no choice; it is always right here. –Toba Spitzer
A flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. –Kurt Vonnegut
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but “That's funny…” –Isaac Asimov
You don't need to know people in order to grieve with them. You grieve with them in order to know them. –Valarie Kaur
From The Elements of Style: Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell. –William Strunk, Jr.
National pride is to countries what self-respect is to individuals: a necessary condition for self-improvement. –Richard Rorty
All knowledge is based on that which we cannot prove. Will you fight? Or will you perish like a dog? –Mickey Mouse (sort of)
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. –Oscar Wilde
Fall in love and stay in love. Explode. Don’t intellectualize. Get passionate about ideas. Cram your head full of images. Stay in the library. Stay off the Internet and all that crap. Read all the great books. Read all the great poetry. See all the great films. Fill your life with metaphors. And then explode. –Ray Bradbury