If indecisive, choose one of your top favorites. And by the holy powers bestowed unto me through the machinations of this platform, I grant thee to even post more than one, too!
Big fan of
“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth”
- Garry Kasparov (2015)
That is to say, don’t let them shut you up.
There is a longer, more historical version of this but it escapes me at the moment.
I can only find the Hannah Arendt quote (1974)
“This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And [to] such a people… you can do whatever you want.”
But i swear there was one that finished “When the truth is silent, liars can move onto action”
Love these unveiling of manipulation tactics. Especially in a time where the narrative is usually focused on the face-value of disinformation/misinformation, or straight up lying when discovered.
When in doubt, shut up.
In the same vein:
Someone smart said nothin’ at all.
To be the artery to your vein:
It’s better the ask and sound ignorant, than say nothing and remain so.
- I know that I know nothing.
- Perfection is killing you.
- A book a day keeps the haters away (ok, I made this one up. Still, quite a good advice and a real fine way to spend one’s time)
Pen is mightier than sword, France is Bacon.
If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.
This quote from LBJ centres me. Its been the conservative tactic for literally decades, from African Americans, to lgbtq+, to immigrants; it’s always been the same grift:
- Choose your marginalised group-du-jour.
- Convince a whole lot of stupid people that that group is the cause of all their problems.
- Profit.
Its honestly astonishing how blatant it really is.
I’ve always loved the dichotomy between “I think, therefore I am” versus “To be, is to be perceived”. Also, “life is what happens to you while you are making other plans”.
Two of my favorite are from Antoine de Saint-Exupery:
“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” (Also attributed as a Native American proverb)
I kinda disagree with the first one. Plenty of places which do not support humans are beautiful. And I don’t like the implication that to be beautiful, you must be hostile with hidden kindness underneath. I don’t know if that’s how Antoine meant it, though.
The second one is mesmerizing. Never heard it, or a variation of it before. Thanks!
“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough”
“Comparison is the thief of joy”
“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough” […]
I think some other quotes similar to this are:
-
There is never a good time to do anything. [1]
-
Perfection is lots of little things done well.
[Marco Pierre White] [2]
References
- Type: Text (Quote). Author: Unknown. Published: Unknown. Accessed: Unknown. Publisher: “Lemmy”.
- Type: Text (Quote). Author: “Marco Pierre White”. Publisher: [Type: Video. Publisher: “YouTube”.]. Published: Unknown. Accessed: Unknown.
-
“The impediment to action advances action. What’s in the way becomes the way.”
This is basically saying that anything that gets in the way of you solving a problem becomes the new problem to solve.
“The tool works at both ends.”
This is about skill building and practice. Making cool stuff improves you as a result.
Something I like about each is that they work in reverse. No impediment in your way? You’re probably not going to have very focused forward movement. No need to use tools (literally or metaphorically)? You won’t become more skilled.
“Give everything you can, but never anything you need.”
I try to live by this. I give away every extra dollar, and help people every chance I get
If idioms count then my favorite is this one:
“I see,” said the blind man to his deaf wife over the phone.
My father would always say that to me growing up if i took too long to explain something 😅
“I see,” said the blind man to his deaf wife as he picked up his hammer and saw.
That’s the version I heard as a kid
We must imagine Sisyphus as happy
I won’t break it down, plenty of people have done that already. It’s one of those sorta zen points that’s both almost trivial and very difficult to understand
Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.
Being neurodivergent, this is the most efficient way to mentally deal with change (i fucking hate change even though its the only constant in life)
Don’t be a cunt!
Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. the goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.
- St John Chrysostom
The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity.
- Second Council of the Vatican
When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.
- Pope St Gregory
Three quotes referenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and just one example of the dissonance between many “Christians” in the U.S. and the faith they purport to follow.
If that doesn’t get them, the fact that the concept of social justice, as in the actual coining of the term as well as the movement against capitalist exploitation brought on by the Industrial Revolution was by the Catholics does lol
The meaning behind it all is very simple, we’re all in this together, and the gifts given to us by God/nature belong to all of us. They’re not for us to hoard, or to exploit others for.
