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.
“It’s not the first thought that comes to mind that matters, what’s important is what you after that”
This was in the context of racism. I was raised in an racist environment, and I was struggling with the awful thoughts that had been indoctrinated in to me bubbling up when I encountered folk that were the target of that racism.
That quote helped me not be hung up on guilt and self flagellation, and instead to focus on being the person I want to be, rather than the person I was taught to be.
My mum wasn’t racist. She’s the one who helped me see that racism isn’t just the way things are. But everyone else in my family, in my town, in the media… It was everywhere…
"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!”
“The hard way is the easy way” has always rung true because when you take short cuts you end up making more work for yourself. Maybe the thing didn’t fit because you didn’t take the time to measure it properly, or you didn’t calibrate the machine. Or you made assumptions that turned out untrue because you didn’t take the time to fully research them or whatever.
Do the work up front, or it increases exponentially. I literally despise this quote. Growing up I hated when my dad quoted it at me. And I’m a little disgusted with myself for agreeing with him now haha. But it’s so true.
“Documentation is the name of the game”: My dad was a union president for the board of Ed in my town growing up. He had to deal with a lot of he-said-she-said cases. But whoever can prove what they’re saying with proper, timestamped documentation always wins the case.
“The apocalypse is not something which is coming. The apocalypse has arrived in major portions of the planet and it’s only because we live within a bubble of incredible privilege and social insulation that we still have the luxury of anticipating the apocalypse.” by Terence McKenna
And the other is from an old salty chief when I was in the navy. This is paraphrasing but:
“Every fuck up comes down to a combination of three root causes: didn’t know, didn’t care, or a material problem”
Someone gets hurt on the job? Well, did they not know they were doing something wrong? Did they not care enough about safety? Or was it simply because something broke? Maybe they didn’t know AND they didn’t care to find out.
I once overheard a pair of utility workers talking, and as I walked past I only overheard a snippet of conversation. The older one yelled up the cherrypicker to the younger one and said, in a heavy Boston accent:
“If only you could use your powers for good, instead of for useless…”
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