Insightful quotes

[Mr Gibbs]

There’s a thread for masculine quotes on here but I think it would be a boon to share deeper quotes, phrases, sayings and or poems from some some of the most intelligent men of history that people have found. Ones that we can share amongst ourselves and others. Especially, the buried and obscure.
2 from Edward Abbey:
“Endless growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”
And
"It occurs to some of us that perhaps ever-continuing industrial and population growth is not the true road to human happiness, that simple gross quantitative increase of this kind creates only more pain, dislocation, confusion and misery. In which case it might be wise for us as American citizens to consider calling a halt to the mass influx of even more millions of hungry, ignorant, unskilled, and culturally-morally-generically impoverished people. At least until we have brought our own affairs into order. Especially when these uninvited millions bring with them an alien mode of life which—let us be honest about this—is not appealing to the majority of Americans. Why not? Because we prefer democratic government, for one thing; because we still hope for an open, spacious, uncrowded, and beautiful—yes, beautiful!—society, for another. The alternative, in the squalor, cruelty, and corruption of Latin America, is plain for all to see."

 

[dicknixon72]

“But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education sucks, and it’s the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That's against their interests. That's right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club. And by the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head in their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people -- white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on -- good honest hard-working people continue -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about them. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on; the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes everyday. Because the owners of this country know the truth: it's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

-George Carlin

 

[Er Miqué]

"I always wanted little woman more than bigger nor larger,
it is not a crime to be avoider of great evil.
Of the harm, take the less says the knowledgeable,
thus of the women the better is the smaller "
-- Arcipreste de Hita, from "De las propiedades que las duennas chicas han" (Small translation from Old Spanish, not perfect)

 

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

"Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled with so much that is evil. They have missed a greater conundrum: why would a perfect God create a universe at all?"
- Sister Miriam Godwinson

 

[Tex Cruise]

George Carlin

“But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education sucks, and it’s the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That's against their interests. That's right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club. And by the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head in their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people -- white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on -- good honest hard-working people continue -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about them. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on; the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes everyday. Because the owners of this country know the truth: it's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

-George Carlin

The best thing is, that I happened to scroll up to this post on my phone, and was then able to read the whole thing in George Carlin's voice... So I put it at the top for the entertainment of others.

 

[MichaelWitcoff]

"Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled with so much that is evil. They have missed a greater conundrum: why would a perfect God create a universe at all?"
- Sister Miriam Godwinson

Man, I've been thinking about stuff like this a lot over the past couple of days. Had a one-on-one with God tonight in which I confessed having many doubts and questions, but still have faith in Him regardless. I think that's really all we can do with our limited human capacity to understand.

 

[debeguiled]

"Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled with so much that is evil. They have missed a greater conundrum: why would a perfect God create a universe at all?"
- Sister Miriam Godwinson

Ecc 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."

 

[Athanasius]

"Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled with so much that is evil. They have missed a greater conundrum: why would a perfect God create a universe at all?"
- Sister Miriam Godwinson

Man, I've been thinking about stuff like this a lot over the past couple of days. Had a one-on-one with God tonight in which I confessed having many doubts and questions, but still have faith in Him regardless. I think that's really all we can do with our limited human capacity to understand.

The greatest moral outrage in history was... Jesus being crucified on the cross. And yet how does that benefit believers. And we're back to Romans 8:28.

God has His reasons for all that happens.

 

[mojo]

"I have lived through much, and now I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor—such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children perhaps—what can more the heart of man desire?"
-Leo Tolstoy, Family Happiness

"Stuff is just thangs, it don't make a fuck. Just love yer damn self, ain't nobody gonna do that for you."
-Catfish Cooley

 

[Mr Gibbs]

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
“In fact,” Mustapha Mond said, “you’re claiming the right to be unhappy.”
“All right then,” said the savage defiantly, “I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.”
Aldous Huxley - A Brave New World

 

[CynicalContrarian]

- There is nothing exceptional about being average.

- Should tragedy exist in the absence of God. Then tragedy is the fault of man & man alone.

- Some folks egos are more fragile than the glass mirrors they should be taking a long look at...

- Homo-sapiens is the smartest creature on the planet. Yet the only creature capable of lying to itself...

- Sisyphus was punished by zeus.
Yet many punish themselves with boulders of their own creation...

- A strong work ethic does not require a certificate.
A strong sense of punctuality does not require a certificate.
A strong sense of discipline does not require a certificate.
Strength of mind does not require a certificate.

- Good, bad or ugly. All actions have consequences...

 

[Mr Gibbs]

“A great industrial nation may conquer the world in the span of a single life, but its Achilles' heel is time. Its children, what of them? The second and third generations, of what numbers and stuff will they be? How long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky, and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the mineral-like quality of life. This is our modern danger -- one of the waxen wings of flight. It may cause our civilization to fall unless we act quickly to counteract it, unless we realize that human character is more important than efficiency, that education consists of more than the mere accumulation of knowledge.”
Charles Lindbergh

 

[y2k]

"Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled with so much that is evil. They have missed a greater conundrum: why would a perfect God create a universe at all?"
- Sister Miriam Godwinson

Man, I've been thinking about stuff like this a lot over the past couple of days. Had a one-on-one with God tonight in which I confessed having many doubts and questions, but still have faith in Him regardless. I think that's really all we can do with our limited human capacity to understand.

2:30 And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" Allah said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know."

Chapter 2, verse 30
Sahih International translation

It is mentioned in the Qur'an that when God declared to the Angels that He would be creating Man, they asked Him:

"Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?".

According to the exegesis of Ibn Kathir they asked this because they understood Human Nature, that this type of creature would cause these atrocities.

They either understood this from what Adam (pbuh) was created from (clay) or from the word used to refer to him ("خليفة" - "khalifah", "successive authority") and asked the question out of curiosity.

God said:

"Indeed, I know that which you do not know."

---

This verse was from Chapter 2 - The Cow, verse 30. Its name is sometimes translated to "The Heifer". The Qur'an continues on this for a few more verses.

To see a small video on how the whole chapter is organized, click here (to another post on this forum).

 

[Cr33pin]

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." -George Augustus Moore

 

[Sombro]

Don Colacho:

"He who believes he is pardoning a vile sentiment by saying it is sincere is merely making it worse."

"The left claims that the guilty party in a conflict is not the one who covets another’s goods but the one who defends his own."

"The barbarian either totally mocks or totally worships.
Civilization is a smile that discretely combines irony and respect."

"Civilization is what old men manage to salvage from the onslaught of young idealists."

"There is an illiteracy of the soul which no diploma cures."

"The happiness of the being we love is the only earthly good that satisfies us beyond measure."


https://don-colacho.blogspot.com

 

[Maurice Ravel]

"The West has cobbled together, in the course of the last 200 years, a specifically secularist moral tradition—one that regards the free consensus of the citizens of a democratic society, rather than the Divine Will, as the source of moral imperatives."
Richard Rorty

 

[Mr Gibbs]

“The so-called backward societies [we might say “immobile”] are those who have the good sense to stop when they reach their destination, while the progressive societies are those that are so blind that they pass it, rushing on madly.”
Bruce Marshall
this brilliantly sums up the quarrels of the dissident/traditionalist/grassroots right vs. modernity (neocons, leftists,progessives) in one quote

 

[Tactician]

"Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else." - Hagakure

 

[Zenta]

Humans overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what we can achieve in an year

 

[Enea]