“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good things, therefore, that I can do, any good kindness that I can show a fellow being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again”
― Stephen Grellet
(probably attributed)
“He realized the futility of living and still believed in living life to the fullest”–Kinky Friedman
My building backs up onto an old folk’s home. Even if exercise doesn’t prolong your life, it’s a huge quality of life upgrade. Huge. Listen to me: HUGE.
“Like the wind crying endlessly through the universe, Time carries away the names and the deeds of conquerors and commoners alike. And all that we are, all that remains, is in the memories of those who cared we came this way for a brief moment.”-Harlan Ellison
“Everybody has opinions: I have them, you have them. And we are all told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Well, that’s horsepuckey, of course. We are not entitled to our opinions; we are entitled to our informed opinions. Without research, without background, without understanding, it’s nothing. It’s just bibble-babble. It’s like a fart in a wind tunnel, folks” -Harlan Ellison, again.
and my signature:
“I try to make sense of things. Which is why, I guess, I believe in destiny. There must be a reason that I am as I am. There must be.” — Andrew, Bicentennial Man
Nanu Nanu, Mr. Williams ear tug
“Don’t believe the hype.”
Public Enemy
“We have art in order not to die of the truth.”
Nietzsche
“If human lives be,
for their very brevity, sweet,
then beast lives are sweeter still…”
― Isobelle Carmody, Night Gate
“Give me where to stand and a long enough lever, and I will move the Earth.” – Archimedes
“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” – Voltaire
Every once in a while, I save a line from my recreational reading:
“Buried truths rush along quietly in some hidden place.”
— Rachel Kushner
“Nothing is worth fighting for, because fighting only prolongs the cycle of aggression and retaliation.”
–J. M. Coetzee
I love this beautiful verse from a song by a French Canadian singer:
Moi, j’veux dessiner les oiseaux
Qui viennent d’un pays
Que tu connais même pas
(I just want to draw birds
who come from a country
that you don’t even know.)
– Marie-Jo Therio (“Cafe Robinson”)
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39
I love that quote. I have a similar one (mine) that I tell my kids: “Never worship a god who’s broke. If he can create the world, he won’t be asking for handouts.”
And back to the profound:
“If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.”
-Sun Tzu
or, from an old country song about 30 years ago:
“I see them TV preachers
with a suit and a tie and a vest,
They ask you to send your money to the Lord
But then they give you their own address.”
“The universe is flux, life is opinion.” Or in different translation (from the original Greek): “The universe is change, life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius
“The Theme is the Quest”
“And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day it was as one dead”.
“No wind favors him who has no destined port.”
Michel de Montaigne
Freedom will come not when the slaves can no longer bear their burden but when the masters can no longer bear their shame.
(I wrote that one. It’s pseudoprofound, admittedly, but it would work great in one of those movies where they wear togas and wristwatches)
Here’s a quote from Reagan that is actually profound:
“There’s no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons."
If being a kid is about learning how to live, then being a grown-up is about learning how to die.
-Stephen King