hopelessly hopeful: Archive

“One of the real changes that comes when you start running for president—as opposed to being an analyst on Fox—is I have to actually know what I’m talking about.” —Newt Gingrich
http://www.newser.com/story/134426/gingrich-takes-shot-at-fox-news.html

Nov 30, 2011

“Only one thing in the world can resist an evil-hearted man. And that is another man. In our shame is our glory. Only our spirit, which is capable of evil, is capable of overcoming it.” —Ged the Archmage from The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

Nov 26, 2011

“She wept in pain, because she was free. What she had begun to learn was the weight of liberty. Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.” —from The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

Nov 26, 2011

“The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain. If you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em. If it hurts, repeat it. But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, from “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”

Nov 26, 2011

“…the truth is that as a man’s real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do….” —The Master Summoner from A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Nov 26, 2011

“Go to bed; tired is stupid.” —Kurremkarmerruk the Master Namer from A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Nov 26, 20115 notes

“Have you never thought how danger must surround power as shadow does light?” —Ogion the Silent, from A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Nov 26, 2011

“You can’t change anything from outside it. Standing apart, looking down, taking in the overview, you see the pattern. What’s wrong, what’s missing. You want to fix it. But you can’t patch it. You have to be in it, weaving it. You have to be part of the weaving.” —from Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. LeGuin (via thechocolatebrigade)

Nov 26, 201130 notes

“….Tell me, what is known? What is sure, predictable, inevitable, the one certain thing you know concerning your future and mine?”
“That we shall die.”
“Yes. There is really only one question that can be answered… and we already know the answer.” —from The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Nov 26, 2011

“Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.
Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
It has no equal.” —Tao Te Ching, Chapter 78, translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English

Nov 18, 201132,733 notes

Nov 11, 20111 note

Nov 10, 20111 note

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” —

Elie Wiesel

Relevant

(via mohandasgandhi)

Nov 10, 20111,000 notes

Nov 6, 2011

Nov 5, 2011

Play

Oct 27, 2011

“‎In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria.” —German proverb

Oct 27, 2011

“

[W]e hate the rich? Come on. Success is the national religion, and almost everyone is a believer. Americans love winners. But that’s just the problem. These guys on Wall Street are not winning – they’re cheating. And as much as we love the self-made success story, we hate the cheater that much more.

We cheer for people who hit their own home runs in this country– not shortcut-chasing juicers like Bonds and McGwire, Blankfein and Dimon.

That’s why it’s so obnoxious when people say the protesters are just sore losers who are jealous of these smart guys in suits who beat them at the game of life. This isn’t disappointment at having lost. It’s anger because those other guys didn’t really win. And people now want the score overturned.

” —Matt Taibbi http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/owss-beef-wall-street-isnt-winning-its-cheating-20111025

Oct 26, 201114 notes

“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all.” —Ecclesiastes 9:11, NRSV

Oct 22, 20113 notes

“Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments—I submit; so let it be done!” —from John Brown’s speech to the court at his trial

Oct 22, 20111 note

“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.” —Mario Savio

Oct 20, 2011

“‎Do you admit to this certainty: that we are at a turning point? - If it is a certainty, then it is not a turning point. The fact of being part of the moment in which an epochal change (if there is one) comes about also takes hold of the certain knowledege that would wish to determine this change, making certainty as inappropriate as uncertainty. We are never less able to circumvent ourselves than at such a moment: the discreet force of the turning point is first and foremost that.” —Maurice Blanchot

Oct 19, 20112 notes

“Historically, a story about people inside impressive buildings ignoring or even taunting people standing outside shouting at them turns out to be a story with an unhappy ending.” —http://files.neilgaiman.com/mirror/111017162300/occupywriters.com/by-lemony-snicket.html

Oct 18, 20113 notes

“It is not always the job of people shouting outside impressive buildings to solve problems. It is often the job of the people inside, who have paper, pens, desks, and an impressive view.” —http://files.neilgaiman.com/mirror/111017162300/occupywriters.com/by-lemony-snicket.html

Oct 18, 2011

“Someone feeling wronged is like someone feeling thirsty. Don’t tell them they aren’t. Sit with them and have a drink.” —http://files.neilgaiman.com/mirror/111017162300/occupywriters.com/by-lemony-snicket.html

Oct 18, 20115 notes

“There may not be a reason to share your cake. It is, after all, yours. You probably baked it yourself, in an oven of your own construction with ingredients you harvested yourself. It may be possible to keep your entire cake while explaining to any nearby hungry people just how reasonable you are.” —http://files.neilgaiman.com/mirror/111017162300/occupywriters.com/by-lemony-snicket.html

Oct 18, 20114 notes

“If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are successful because you worked hard, just as if you are tall with long hair it doesn’t mean you would be a midget if you were bald.” —http://files.neilgaiman.com/mirror/111017162300/occupywriters.com/by-lemony-snicket.html

Oct 18, 20119 notes

Oct 14, 2011

Oct 12, 201178 notes

“I’ve come to understand that there are lots and LOTS of people just like you: people for whom this idea does not have the right Accessibility, so it hasn’t been able to get through to you yet. It’s not your fault for not understanding, any more than it would be your fault for being blind or deaf or motion-restricted or living with any other disability. When software — or idea-ware for that matter — fails to be accessible to anyone for any reason, it is the fault of the software or of the messaging of the idea. It is an Accessibility failure.” —Steve Yegge http://siliconfilter.com/google-engineer-google-is-a-prime-example-of-our-complete-failure-to-understand-platforms/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+newsgrange+%28Newsgrange%29

Oct 12, 2011

“My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.” —Indira Gandhi (via annaharo )

Oct 6, 201175 notes

#quote #competition #taking #credit #work #life #working

“‎Don’t do it. Unless it comes out of your soul like a rocket, unless being still would drive you to madness or suicide or murder, don’t do it. Unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don’t do it.” —Charles Bukowski (via theartofdylan)(via sibbotery)

Oct 6, 201173 notes

#quotes #charles bukowski #career

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” —Steve Jobs http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Oct 5, 20111 note

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” —Steve Jobs http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Oct 5, 20112 notes

“I do not envy people who think they have a complete explanation of the world, for the simple reason that they are obviously wrong.” —Salman Rushdie (via labyrintho)

Oct 5, 2011497 notes

#salman rushdie

“And this is the other thing. It was hard, and it was fucked up that we had to fight for it in the way we did but we did fight for it and we won. The line was changed, they listened, we sat down and re-wrote it and it has been published with our re-write. And when we walked away, I felt like something important had just happened, that we had just pushed a movement a little bit closer to the movement I would like to see– one that takes into account historical and current inequalities, oppressions, racisms, relations of power, one that doesn’t just recreate liberal white privilege but confronts it head on. And if I have to fight to make that happen I will. As long as my people are there standing next to me while I do that. http://www.racialicious.com/2011/10/03/so-real-it-hurts-notes-on-occupy-wall-street/” —

Oct 4, 2011

“Let me tell you what it feels like to stand in front of a white man and explain privilege to him. It hurts. It makes you tired. Sometimes it makes you want to cry. Sometimes it is exhilarating. Every single time it is hard. Every single time I get angry that I have to do this, that this is my job, that this shouldn’t be my job. Every single time I am proud of myself that I’ve been able to say these things because I used to not be able to and because some days I just don’t want to.” —SO REAL IT HURTS: Notes on Occupy Wall Street | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture (via skeskali2)

Oct 4, 201113 notes

“We often forget that we are nature. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature. We’ve lost our connection to ourselves.” —Andy Goldsworthy (via winterlungs)

Oct 4, 20112,442 notes

#quote #nature #Environment #sustainability #culture #humanity

“We are the 99% and we are too big to fail.” —

Oct 4, 20111 note

“That sounds like the fevered ramblings of a syphilitic brain. But he was authentic!” —Stephen Colbert

Oct 2, 2011

Sep 30, 20111 note

“Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” —

Sep 28, 2011

“I know that most men — not only those considered clever, but even those who are very clever and capable of understanding most difficult scientific, mathematical, or philosophic, problems — can seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty — conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives.” —Leo Tolstoy

Sep 28, 2011

“As a robot living among humans, I’ve never really felt accepted at parties or nude beaches. So I’ve always secretly wondered: What if I was 500-feet tall?” —Bender

Sep 26, 2011

“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.” —Stephen Colbert

Sep 26, 20117 notes

hopelessly hopeful

November 2011

19 posts

October 2011

26 posts

September 2011

16 posts