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.
Also check out the book “seeing like a state” if you want a whole book version of that quote, including examples in forestry, city design and education.
Oh this is a great one. I was once in a job, where we were introduced to a new system that was designed to count successes. The problem was, that it was a job where we worked with people and everything we did couldn’t be quantified. The new system only put value on what could be counted so 80% of our work became invisible and “worthless”. Great times.
When I was like 8, a liftee at my local ski hill told me that as I dangled from the chairlift about 5 feet off the ground because I waffled getting on the lift.
It’s a quote for a horrible 90s indie film that’s always struck with me for some reason. My social group and I have since taken this quote as an absolute/truism that gets referenced whenever a situation calls for absolute certainty. Because as we all know, there’s no room on Mars for limp dicks.
When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who’s going to die! You don’t know whose children are going to scream and burn! How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning: Sit — down — and — talk!
That was such a captivating speech. Although he may have had some weak episodes (as does any Doctor), if you need someone to give a captivating direct, Capaldi's Doctor can't be beat!
“Many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends.” Gandalf, Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring
For some reason, this quote (and the entirety of Gollum’s story) has stuck itself in my head. I guess I interpret this as a message to not be so quick to judge death upon another person, no matter what they had done. You never know what their future will be like, and cutting their lives off would mean losing out on the potential benefits that their future might bring. Even bad people can contribute good things. I know that this is just my personal opinion, and a lot of people probably won’t agree with this, but this is the lesson that I got from Gollum’s story.
“You’re not here to make a choice, you’ve already made it. You’re here to try and understand why you made it.”
-The Oracle.
To this day it’s the way I don’t worry about determinism and free will. It doesn’t matter if I truly was the one who made a choice or not—if it was predestined—I’m supposed to learn about why I made that choice.
The way I think about this is somewhat novel I think.
Suppose we have two universes, everything the same, except one has free will and one doesn’t. Would an observer be able to tell them apart? I don’t think so. Maybe I just lack imagination, but I don’t see how free will would actually make a difference.
Your decisions determine what kind of person you are and what kind of person you are determines what decisions you make. They are self reinforcing and tied up together in a big path dependant knot.
Wanting to be a better person also only works if you let it change your decisions, bringing you one step closer to being a better person.
I think that only holds true if we stop making choices.
As far as free will is concerned, the multiverse theory has some great implications for that. Still no answers, but rationales that there are other “yous” out there living ever single possibility.
I now constantly test myself to see if I’m overlooking the truth. Refusal to admit reality or refusal to acknowledge an unpleasant truth can ultimately hold you back.
Often times, for me, it’s not even a refusal. Certain situations or emotions I sort of just “I’ll deal with that later” and then never do. I mean to, eventually, but just procrastinate it until it’s a legitimate delusion
This line from Schindler’s List always stuck with me:
“Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.”
The context is that at the end of the movie Schindler is distraught thinking of how many more he could have saved if he just did certain things differently, like selling a ring and using that money to hire another Jewish worker. One of the people he saved tells him the above line.
It’s stuck with me for two reasons, I think.
First, it’s an interesting perspective on individuality. Each person has their own unique perspective of the world. When that person dies, that perspective is gone forever. An entire universe dies with them, never to be seen again. I think that’s a powerful way to view the individual.
Second, it’s a reminder that we do what we can, and while it may be imperfect, it’s enough. You can’t save everyone, just live well and help those you can in the capacity that you can. If you save one of those people, you’ve saved the world.
"Live on, survive, for the Earth gives forth wonders. It may swallow your heart, but the wonders keep on coming. You stand before them bareheaded, shriven. What is expected of you is attention."
Salman Rushdie, from The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
A more recent one, meditation-related, short and simple and I have no idea who said it, I just happened to catch it a couple of years ago on a website-that-shall-not-be-named:
Great quote for me from the OP. Thank you.
This prompts me to adjust it to fit my needs: "I am my thoughts, so I better craft my thoughts in a better way."
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