The hero

“Nothing is given to man on Earth—struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible—the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen.”

— Andrew Bernstein

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I against I

“The last struggle for our rights, the battle for our civilization, is entirely with ourselves.”

— William Wells Brown

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Broken dreams

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“If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.”

— Flavia Weedn

Metamorphosis

“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”

— Lao Tzu

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The real deal

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“The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see.”

— Alexandra K. Trenfor

Perspective

“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.”

— Miyamoto Musashi

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Want not want

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“Fantasies have to be unrealistic because the moment, the second that you get what you seek, you don’t, you can’t want it anymore. In order to continue to exist, desire must have its objects perpetually absent. It’s not the ‘it’ that you want, it’s the fantasy of ‘it.’ So, desire supports crazy fantasies. This is what Pascal means when he says that we are only truly happy when daydreaming about future happiness. Or why we say ‘the hunt is sweeter than the kill.’ Or ‘be careful what you wish for.’ Not because you’ll get it, but because you’re doomed not to want it once you do. So the lesson of Lacan is, living by your wants will never make you happy. What it means to be fully human is to strive to live by ideas and ideals, and not to measure your life by what you’ve attained in terms of your desires but those small moments of integrity, compassion, rationality, even self-sacrifice. Because in the end, the only way that we can measure the significance of our own lives is by valuing the lives of others.”

— from the film "The Life of David Gale"

Of towels and throwing

“Everybody comes to a point in their life when they want to quit, but it’s what you do at that moment that determines who you are.”

— David Goggins

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Sick society

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“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

— J. Krishnamurti

Life is discovery

“We cannot teach people anything. We can only help them discover it within themselves.”

— Galileo Galilei

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Self-respect

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This particular lesson took too long to finally sink in.

“Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy.”

– Robert Tew

Simply profound

What you seek is seeking you.

– Rumi

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Change

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We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.

– Sheryl Sandberg 

Infinities

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

– Albert Einstein

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Painfully beautiful

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​I'm a fan of C.S. Lewis, even though I've read very little of his work. Truly I'm a fan of anyone who can take a crude amalgam of thoughts, feelings and experience, and, with a few simple words, crystalize them into something painfully beautiful.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

– C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Always

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it—always.

– Mahatma Gandhi

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Joy, truth, love

I just started reading a book I got as a gift from my mom, Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch. I'm literally just a few pages in, but I wanted to post this quote. 

I love finding these little treasures in things—thoughts so tightly strung together you can touch them. Well, they touch you. 

The Highest Thought is always that thought which contains joy. The Clearest Words are those words which contain truth. The Grandest Feeling is that feeling which you call love.

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Commitment

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Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions, and the actions which speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none—coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.

– commonly attributed to Abraham Lincoln,
Shearson Lehman or anon

Love differently

When one paints, one loves in a different way.

– Séraphine,
from the 2008 film
by the same name

Food lovers

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Food is the food of the body; love is the food of the soul.

– Vasant Lad