Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
Immanuel Kant
Government, in the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government.
William Lyon Mackenzie King
What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind.
Woodrow Wilson
Protopia is a state of becoming, rather than a destination. It is a process. In the protopian mode, things are better today than they were yesterday, although only a little better. It is incremental improvement or mild progress.
― Kevin Kelly
You just get the vibes of your surroundings and it rubs off on you.
Gordon Lightfoot
Mentally, starting the game versus coming off the bench, there are different vibes.
Serge Ibaka
I do think that people leave 'vibes' behind, and the best that I can hope is that I leave a few good vibes, as well as the bad ones.
Sheila Hancock
Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.
Sam Rayburn
When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.
Steve Jobs
When we arrive, sons and daughters
We'll make our homes on the water
We'll build our walls aluminum
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon now
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs, they fade away
- Decemberists
Amélie: [to blind man] Let me help you. Step down. Here we go! The drum major's widow! She's worn his coat since the day he died. The horse's head has lost an ear! That's the florist laughing. He has crinkly eyes. In the bakery window, lollipops. Smell that! They're giving out melon slices! Sugarplum, ice cream! We're passing the park butcher. Ham, 79 francs. Spareribs, 45! Now the cheese shop. Picadors are 12.90. Cabecaus 23.50. A baby's watching a dog that's watching the chickens. Now we're at the kiosk by the metro. I'll leave you here. Bye!
- Amélie
For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality.
Conan O'Brien
I look at the human life like an experiment. Every new moment, every new experience, tragic or otherwise, is an opportunity to gain a more accurate perspective and helps lead me to clarity.
Steve Gleason
You do it to yourself, you do
And that's what really hurts
Is that you do it to yourself, just you
You and no one else
You do it to yourself
-Radiohead
We live in a world where finding fault in others seems to be the favorite blood sport. It has long been the basis of political campaign strategy. It is the theme of much television programming across the world. It sells newspapers. Whenever we meet anyone, our first, almost unconscious reaction may be to look for imperfections.
-Henry B. Eyring
We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers - but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change you're the one who has got to change.
-Katharine Hepburn
in the blizzard of '77
the cars were just lumps on the snow
and then later
tripping in 7-11
the shelves were stretching out of control
on a plane ride
the more it shakes
the more i have to let go
now the signals
still getting all mixed up
we're always doing damage control
but in the middle of the night i worry
it's blurry even without light
i know i have got a negative edge
that's why i sharpen all the others a lot
it's like flowers or ladybugs
pretty weeds or red beetles with dots
i miss you more than i knew
-Nada Surf
Let me make a clean breast of it here, and frankly admit that I kept but sorry guard. With the problem of the universe revolving in me, how could I- being left completely to myself at such a thought-engendering altitude- how could I but lightly hold my obligations to observe all whaleships’ standing orders, “Keep your weather eye open, and sing out every time.”
-Herman Melville
The deviation of man from the state in which he was originally placed by nature seems to have proved to him a prolific source of diseases.
-Edward Jenner
If you find diseases before they've really emerged, you can control them early on, before you get a major epidemic.
-Nathan Wolfe
Halfway from coal, halfway to diamond
My fall knocked a mean chip out of me
-R.E.M.
Bill : Mommy is still angry at Daddy.
B.B. : Why?
Bill : Well sweety, I love Mommy, but I did to Mommy what you did to Emilio.
B.B. : You stomped on Mommy?
Bill : Worse. I shot Mommy. Not pretend shoot, like we were just doing. I shot her for real.
B.B. : Why? Did you want to see what would happen?
Bill : No, I knew what would happen to Mommy if I shot her. What I didn't know is, when I shot Mommy, what would happen to me.
B.B. : What happened?
Bill : I was very sad. And that was when I learned, some things, once you do, they can never be undone.
-Kill Bill 2
Karen Eiffel: As Harold took a bite of Bavarian Sugar Cookie, he finally felt as if everything was going to be okay. Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian Sugar Cookies, and fortunately, when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin... or a kind and loving gesture... or a subtle encouragement... or a loving embrace... or an offer of comfort... not to mention hospital gurneys... and nose plugs... and uneaten Danish... and soft-spoken secrets... and Fender Stratocasters... and maybe, the occasional piece of fiction. And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are in fact here for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives. I know the idea seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true. And so it was a wristwatch saved Harold Crick.
-Stranger Than Fiction
Time: He is me and I am he
Time: All of that was or ever shall be.
Time is against you. – Mrs. Kingsleigh
Young lady, your time is up. – Ascot Trading Company board member
Everyone parts with everything eventually. – Time
I suppose every second counts. – Alice
You cannot win in a race against time. – Time
Without the chronosphere time myself will perish. – Time
I hope you used your time well. – Time
Time is many things, but he is not money. Nor is he our enemy. – Alice
I used to think time was a thief. – Alice
-Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
I know only one thing: that I know nothing.
(Attributed to Socrates, Apology)
Of all who hail thy presence as the morning—
Of all to whom thine absence is the night—
The blotting utterly from out high heaven
The sacred sun—of all who, weeping, bless thee
Hourly for hope—for life—ah! above all,
For the resurrection of deep-buried faith
In Truth—in Virtue—in Humanity—
Of all who, on Despair’s unhallowed bed
Lying down to die, have suddenly arisen
At thy soft-murmured words, “Let there be light!”
At the soft-murmured words that were fulfilled
In the seraphic glancing of thine eyes—
Of all who owe thee most—whose gratitude
Nearest resembles worship—oh, remember
The truest—the most fervently devoted,
And think that these weak lines are written by him—
By him who, as he pens them, thrills to think
His spirit is communing with an angel’s.
Edgar Allen Poe
Holy men tell us life is a mystery. They embrace that concept happily. But some mysteries bite and bark and come to get you in the dark.
-The Book of Counted Sorrows, Dean Koontz
Rand Peltzer, Fantastic ideas for a Fantastic World, I make the illogical logical.
-Gremlins(1984)
Perhaps someday, you will be ready. Until then, Mogwai waits.
-Gremlins(1984)
My friends are so distressed
They're standing on the brink of emptiness
No words I know of to express
This emptiness
I love all of you
Hurt by the cold
So hard and lonely, too
When you don't know yourself
Imagine me
Taught by tragedy
Release is peace
I heard a little girl
And what she said was something beautiful
To give your love no matter what
Is what she said
-Red Hot Chili Peppers
Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
-Thomas A. Edison
Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.
-Mahatma Gandhi
Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there's time, the Bastard Time.
-John Steinbeck
I wish we could open our eyes
To see in all directions at the same time
Oh, what a beautiful view
If you were never aware of what was around you
And it is true what you said
That I live like a hermit in my own head
But when the sun shines again
I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in
[Chorus]
Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate "half empty or half full?"
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown
-Deathcab
Anna: I like the open gates.
Elsa: We are never closing them again.
-Frozen
Anna: You're the bridge!
Elsa: Bridges have two sides, and our mother had two daughters.
-Frozen II
Tyler Durden : Fuck what you know. You need to forget about what you know, that's your problem. Forget about what you think you know about life, about friendship, and especially about you and me.
Fight Club (1999)
A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn't really care, wisdom does.
― Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done
in earth, as it is in heaven:
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
-Jesus
But although Christ has complete confidence in his father and even fells at one with him, he cannot help inserting the cautious petition-and warning-into the Lord’s Prayer: ”lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” God is asking not to entice us outright into doing evil, but rather to deliver us from it....
Christ considers it appropriate to remind his father of his destructive inclinations towards mankind and to beg him to desist from them. Judged by any human standards it is after all unfair, indeed, extremely immoral, to entice little children into doing things that might be dangerous for them, simply in order to test their moral stamina! Especially as the difference between a child and a grown-up is immeasurably smaller than that between God and his creatures, whose moral weakness is particularly well known to him. The incongruity of it is so colossal that if this petition were not in the Lord’s Prayer one would have to call it sheer blasphemy, because it really will not do to ascribe such contradictory behavior to the God of Love and Summum Bonum.
-Carl Jung
Yet even then beyond the reach of any plummet- ‘out of the belly of hell’- when the whale grounded upon the ocean’s utmost bones, even then, God heard the engulphed, repenting prophet when he cried. Then God spake unto the fish; and from the shuddering cold and blackness of the sea, the whale came breeching up towards the warm and pleasant sun, and all the delights of air and earth; and ‘vomited out Jonah upon the dry land;’ when the word of the Lord came a second time; and Jonah, bruised and beaten- his ears, like two sea-shells, still multitudinously murmuring of the ocean- Jonah did the Almighty’s bidding. And what was that, shipmates? To preach the Truth to the face of Falsehood! That was it!
“This, shipmates, this is that other lesson; and woe to that pilot of the living God who slights it. Woe to him whom this world charms from Gospel duty! Woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when God has brewed them into a gale! Woe to him who seeks to please rather than to appal! Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness! Woe to him who, in this world, courts not dishonor! Woe to him who would not be true, even though to be false were salvation! Yea, woe to him who as the great Pilot Paul has it, while preaching to others is himself a castaway!
-Herman Melville, Moby Dick
Once upon a time, three great thinkers stood beside a large, ancient vat of vinegar. They were known for their wisdom and their quest to understand life’s nature, each from a distinct path. Before them lay a simple task: taste the vinegar and describe its essence. Though the task seemed straightforward, it would reveal their deepest beliefs about the world.
The first to dip his finger in the vinegar was Confucius, the wise teacher who sought order and respect for traditions. He tasted the vinegar, grimaced, and quickly pulled his hand back. "Bitter," he declared with a frown. To him, the sourness was a sign of a world out of balance, one that needed structure, rules, and rituals to become palatable. Confucius believed that life’s bitterness could only be soothed through discipline, respect, and proper conduct.
Next was the Buddha, who sought to escape the suffering of the world. He calmly dipped his finger into the vinegar and tasted it with a pensive look. He closed his eyes, accepting the sourness without reaction. “Life is suffering,” he said softly. “The sourness reminds us of this truth.” For Buddha, the vinegar reflected the impermanence of all things and the suffering inherent in life. Yet he did not resist it; he accepted it, as one must accept suffering in order to find inner peace.
Finally, it was Laozi’s turn. The mysterious sage and founder of Daoism, he approached the vinegar with a knowing smile. He tasted it, let the flavor linger, and his smile grew. “It is perfect as it is,” he said, savoring the sour taste. “Vinegar is meant to be sour. There is no bitterness, only vinegar tasting as it should.” For Laozi, the vinegar represented life’s natural flow, which he embraced without resistance. To him, life in all its flavors—bitter, sweet, or sour—was in harmony, just as it was.
In that moment, the three wise men understood their differences. Confucius sought to fix what he saw as wrong; Buddha sought to transcend suffering; and Laozi sought harmony in accepting life exactly as it was. Each walked away, tasting vinegar in his own way, yet all had gained something valuable from the experience. And so the story of the vinegar tasters teaches us that how we experience life’s sourness depends entirely on the wisdom we bring to the table.
-An Allegory (*)
I am not your señorita
I am not from your tribe
In the garden, in the garden I did no crime
-Tori Amos
Can't stop, addicted to the shindig
Chop Top, he says I'm gonna win big
Choose not a life of imitation
Distant cousin to the reservation
Defunct, the pistol that you pay for
This punk, the feelin' that you stay for
In time, I want to be your best friend
East Side love is living on the West End
Knocked out, but boy, you better come to
Don't die, you know, the truth is some do
Go write your message on the pavement
Burn so bright, I wonder what the wave meant
Kick-start the golden generator
Sweet talk but don't intimidate her
Can't stop the gods from engineering
Feel no need for any interfering
Your image in the dictionary
This life is more than ordinary
Can I get two, maybe even three of these?
Comin' from space to teach you of the Pleiades
Can't stop the spirits when they need you
This life is more than just a read-through
-Red Hot Chili Peppers
Jareth: You remind me of the babe.
Goblin: What babe?
Jareth: The babe with the power.
Goblin: What power?
Jareth: The power of voodoo.
Goblin: Who do?
Jareth: You do.
Goblin: Do what?
Jareth: Remind me of the babe.
-Labyrinth (1986)