no. 759

“In a human sacrifice to deity there might be at least a mistaken and terrible beauty; in the rites of the moneychangers, where greed, laziness, and envy were assumed to move all men's acts, even the terrible became banal.”

Ursula K. LeGuin

no. 758

 “It's always easier not to think for oneself. Find a nice safe hierarchy and settle in. Don't make changes, don't risk disapproval, don't upset your syndics. It's always easiest to let yourself be governed.”

Ursula K. LeGuin

no. 757

 “ Dictatorships murder poets because poets convey the feeling of a people.”

Sarah Kendzior

no. 756

“When I was in college, I studied Ancient Greek for one year, a consequence of reading too much Donna Tartt in high school. While seemingly impractical, studying Ancient Greek was a solid move for someone who writes in English. I started breaking down words into parts I recognized from ancient roots, especially in politics, where kratos – power, or rule – would appear. Autocracy: rule by one man. Kleptocracy: rule by thieves.

Democracy: rule by the people.

Whenever I hear Americans proclaim that democracy is either dead or eternal (it is often the same politicians speaking in extremes, usually while they are asking you for money), I return to the root: the power of the people.

I do not instinctively reject the word “democracy” because it was not imposed on me by a foreign country. It is the power to which I am entitled but never received. Democracy was never fully realized in the United States and has been stripped away even more over my lifetime.

But I feel the word in my soul in a way that is natural – the way you feel a poem.”

Sarah Kendzior, Out of Words

no. 755

“Demokratiya had become cheap and cruel: a buzzword the government sells with a sneer as the mafia state shakes you down; a lure NGOs peddle as they promise to solve your problems without hearing what they are.  Demokratiya was a sign that someone did not have your back unless they were painting a target on it. The word is still viewed that way in many states of the former Soviet Union that proclaimed themselves “democracies” while remaining dictatorships.”

Sarah Kendzior, Out of Words, describing how many people in former Soviet states (and probably others) feel about Western preaching about democracy. 

no. 754

“We live in a world where funerals are more important than death, marriage is more important than love and looks are more important than the soul.

We live in a packaging culture that despises content. "

Jodie foster

no. 753

“There's a longstanding joke to the effect that you can shut down any discussion of the merits of a libertarian exit by asking three questions about the brave new world:

I. Whether you can sell your organs;

II. Whether you can sell yourself into slavery; and

III. Whether there is any age of consent.”

Cory Doctorow 

no. 752

“The law, in its majestic equality, equally forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”

Anatole France

no. 751

 

no. 750

 Not a quote, but almost

via GIPHY

no. 749

 “ People who say "this isn't the time for context" want you to be misinformed. Context is everything. Context is the difference between a stabbing and a surgery, between revenge and justice, between oppression and protection. Insist on context and be curious.”

@iyad_elbaghdadi

no. 478

 “Any time a oppressed people is trampled on by the boot of fascism, there will be those who say 'never again' and those who demand their turn with the boot.”

@VanillaWayfarer

no. 747

 Hawkeye: War isn’t Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.

Father Mulcahy: How do you figure that, Hawkeye?

Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell?

Father Mulcahy: Sinners, I believe.

Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them — little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.

from the show M*A*S*H

no. 476

 “The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”

- Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)

no. 745

 

“There is no other child who is this one. There is no other nurse who is this one. There is no other hand eye tooth bone. There is no other sibling, no other tree. The rulers kill the world and say their stupid words. Their sounds waste breath and with their lives they kill life.”

@arcelisxgirmay

no. 744

 

"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book." 

Cicero (43 BCE)

no. 743

 "Freedom stretches only as far as the limits of our consciousness."  

Carl Jung

no. 742

 “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” 

Leon Trotsky

no. 741

"Every time I try to talk to someone it's "sorry this" and "forgive me that" and "I'm not worthy"..." 

- God

no. 740

 

“Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured.”

 — Winston Churchill