What's a quote that has stuck with you for your whole life?
I always loved browsing such posts on reddit, so thought I should make one on lemmy too
Edit: Usually these kind of posts only used to have excerpts from books or ancient proverbs, but now I am seeing a lot more quotes from shows/movies/games are also resonating with people. It’s pretty cool to see.
As a young child I interpreted this as acknowledging all of the people involved in:
Mining and transporting coal
Running the powerplant
Installing and maintaining the powerlines
Wiring the house
Manufacturing the lightswitch, light socket, light bulb, etc
All so I can flick a switch and turn on a light in my house. It really shows that all the small things we take for granted rely on a well functioning society.
Then when I was around 10 or so someone used it in a context where it’s usual interpretation was the only one that made sense.
If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
Said by a friend who, in the late 90s, copied a dozen albums to minidisk for me. He named all the albums and track names using a remote to select each letter one by one. It must have taken him many hours to do it. But he wanted to do a good job. Up up up up A right, up up up up up f, etc etc. Utterly tedious but he wanted to do a good job.
“Never hesitate to state the obvious”, for socially awkward teenager-me this was a game changer how to participate in conversation. I still live by it and it’s really useful in meetings, as it also brings real value to the conversation, as whatever is obvious to you isn’t necessarily obvious to others. And even if everyone knew, it may still spark a discussion.
A bit crass maybe but it’s always stuck with me. Basically a way of thinking in bad situations that need action eg if you’ve shat yourself, no amount of wishing you hadn’t is going to change the fact that you’ve shat yourself, so what are you going to actually do about it?
Hopefully it’s metaphorical but works on both counts.
"Compassion is priceless in the truest sense of the word. It must be given freely. In abundance. "- Steven Erikson.
“Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool.” -Mark Twain
“You are too concerned what was and what will be. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called present.”- Master Oogway.
As fluffy as this quote sounds, I always find it relevant. From taking on a difficult task at work, to getting past ladder anxiety in a video game. If you’ve ever executed on something so well that afterwards you felt like it was a waste of time, it might be. You didn’t get an opportunity to learn. Which reminds me of another relevant quote, “Losing is fun!”
“Don’t regret. Remember.” From the movie “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” Changed how I think about a lot of the events in my past. The director said that fans have come up to her and shown her tattoos of that line, so it’s not just me.
Your kind cling to your flesh as if it will not decay, and fail you. This crude biomass you call a temple, will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you.
Not my life because it was a comment on Reddit (at least I think it wasn’t quoted from anything else). But I loved it and I remember it years later still.
As my father told me, There are only three useless things in this world. Nuns’ nipples, bishops’ balls and an employer’s praise without a raise.
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