Focus: Favorite quotations. Share it and why. "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones" - Einstein It questions what we define as progress. Yes, we have all these new technologies and are coming up with newer things everyday, but where will it leave us. If we do manage to not kill each other, our daily lives will consist of pushing buttons to do everything for us and the majority of people will sit around all day doing nothing. Although there are countless problems in the world today, having these gives us something to work towards. What do we do when there is nothing left to fix. Also, another way to look at it, the more direct way, is whether we are better off now with all these new technologies, and the weapons they've created, or were we better off a hundred years ago when people didn't have to worry about being blown up by some guy sitting in an office 6,000 miles away.
Those were Leonardo Da Vinci's last words. The Renaissance Man, one of the most famous artists the world has ever produced, and he thinks he wasn't good enough. Shit, what does that mean for what I'm trying to do?
"Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment." - John This is a quote one of my friends said. It's a very pessimistic quote and I think it really shows how getting your hopes up too much can crush you.
Joseph Heller has always been one of my favorite authors, so I'm a bit biased when it comes to picking favorite quotes. "When I grow up I want to be a little boy." "He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt." Between these two quotes I always have an answer when someone asks me what I'm doing with my life. I'm going to live forever or die trying. Fuck you. Maybe it's mocking the futility of life. Maybe we really can achieve immortality through our deeds. Maybe I'm drunk, but goddamn I love these quotes.
More of a philosophy, but here goes: "Treat me good, I'll treat you better. Treat me bad, I'll treat you worse." -Sonny Barger, Founding member, Hells Angels
There's a couple I revisit over the years, mostly from books or movies. Couldn't choose though, so spoiler tags. Spoiler When Galileo was called before the church and told to repent his findings on pain of death for heresy, he took back everything he had written on the heliocentric universe. Being an old man and not to up for torture and death. It is said that as he rose to leave, he said under his breath "eppur si muove" (And yet it moves.) I don't know why but when I read this in one of my Astronomy classes it gave me chills. Still one of my favorite quotes. Words of wisdom from Kevin Smith? Never bitched, cried, moaned or was ever afraid of death. Loved the book. Has picked me back up from low places before. Thanks Rocky. About the Selkies who always have to return to the sea. I always tell my boy that we're never living more than a short drive from the ocean. Have to be near the beach and always related to that quote.
"when I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun" - Hanns Johst A german playwright and a nazi. I don't know why, but ever since i've heard this quote it stuck with me. "Repeticium Matter Studiorum Est" (Repetition is the mother of knowledge) - Unknown Simply because I've found this to be a fact.
This is what one of my buddies told me as we were driving back to base after a particularly interesting day in Iraq. I've always liked it. Words to live your life by.
"Don't ever trust a fart" -My father And a couple from Robert Oppenheimer: "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." "No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he knows."
I only googled as I thought that sounded to poignant to be an original. Turns out your boy love him some Warhammer. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000:_Dawn_of_War
"Small things are big, huge things are small." -Project Pitchfork This one comes to mind a lot, it is really quite self explanatory. The rest of the quote is 'tiny acts have huge effects.' "The fuckin' you get ain't worth the fuckin' you get." -Friend's dad Goes along the lines of 'for every hot chick, there's someone out there sick of her shit.' "Remember when getting old only happened to old people?" -Mike Ness You never see it coming. He said this while walking up a flight of stairs, and I heard this as I was nursing one of the first random, my bodies beginning to fall apart, injuries.
I've considered founding a Holy Church of Kurt Vonnegut. Our canon would be the collected works and aphorisms of the man himself. Services will consist of sitting around and musing on how we're all a bunch of boobs who mess up a lot, but that life is nice sometimes. I don't know of any better rules. Stops me from getting too uppity, or too down on the state of my life.
This has been one of my favorites since I heard it in college. It suits me since I'm not worried about making the most money or being famous. I just want to look back at my life and be happy with myself and know I left an impression on those around me.
A couple gooders from my favourite writers: "Never turn your back on fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed." -Hunter Thompson I couldn't pick just one Kurt Vonnegut, so: "People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order so they'll have good voice boxes in case there's ever anything really meaningful to say." "Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward." And from some of the funniest minds of the last decade or so: "A fly was very close close to being named a 'land', cuz that's what they do half the time." -Mitch Hedberg "Life goes by pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, and do whatever you want all the time, you could miss it." -Eric Cartman
"Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum". ("If you want peace, prepare for war") - Flavius Vegetius Renatus "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." - General George Patton And my favorite: It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind. - Voltaire