“These people who expect to be saints in heaven, though they were not on Earth, have ignored the wisdom of the founders of the great religions. This wisdom is that the kingdom of heaven is within you and that you do not go to heaven unless you are already in it. The magic must be wrought by you and you alone. God has no fairy wand to tap the pig and turn it into a swan.
People ignore this. And those who believe in sinners burning in hell are, perhaps, not so much concerned with going to heaven as with being sure that sinners-–others-–roast forever in the flames.”
― Philip José Farmer
Quotes
Only In Our Dreams
“Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages.” Wyrd Sisters, pg.225 – Terry Pratchett
Lose your anger, Win the war
“If you lose your temper, you’ve lost the argument.” — Proverb
Or as I see it: “Lose your anger and win the ‘war’.”
Intimate with Few…
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.” – George Washington (U.S. General & President 1732-1799)
Tecumseh
“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about their religion;
respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.Love your life,
perfect your life,
beautify all things in your life.Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people and grovel to none.When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When it comes your time to die,
be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”
Chief Tecumseh 1768-1830
I ‘m always angry.
“I’m always angry. It’s my raison d’etre. Ask anybody. Grumble, grumble.” Artie, Warehouse 13.
Maladjusted = Healthy?
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” — Krishnamurti
Universe ≠ Logical
“If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.” — Vannevar Bush (engineer, inventor, science administrator 1890-1974)
Mind your own business.
“Most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folks who can’t mind their own buisness, because they have no business of their own to mind, any more than a smallpox virus has.” — William S. Burroughs (novelist, poet, essayist 1914-1997)
Why today’s retailers sell crap, from a 19th Century critic.
“There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man’s lawful prey.” — John Ruskin (Writer, Critic 1819-1900)