Asklemmy

I have two that have stuck with me most my adult life-- and I find that they apply frequently.

I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few; as we have learned to our sorrow.

-- Judge Learned Hand, The Spirit of Liberty Speech, 1944

I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:

1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

-- Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt, 2002

You brush at night to keep your teeth.

You brush in the morning to keep your friends.

"Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky, they are people who say 'This is my community and it's my responsibility to make it better.'" Tom McCall - Oregon Governor 1967-1975.

It only ever ends once, everything else is just progress.

Jacob on Lost

"You must know what happened happened and couldn't have happened any other way." -Morpheus

My Auntie circa 1994:”Never buy meat from a man selling it out of the back of his truck.” I’m always astounded by how relavent it’s is.

P.S. she said I could quote her on this. </3

Get in the zone, autozone!

"Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame."

"Psh, friends? Who needs them? They roll more off the line every day."

Sounds super callous out of context, but the guy was incredibly friendly and kind. He had originally moved across the country to where his wife was living, and at this point they were going through a really bad divorce. I strongly suspect his local support network was entirely her friends, and they were turning their backs on him. I always took it as advice on being unafraid to remove the people who are dragging you down, and be confident that there are better ones out there.

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

And here is Jeff Goldblum it reciting from memory

Every single quote from Bojack Horseman

The secret of invisibility : Stand where no one is watching.

"Wearing a watch is like being handcuffed to time."

If you wish to keep slaves, you must have all kinds of guards. The cheapest way to have guards is to have the slaves pay taxes to finance their own guards. To fool the slaves, you tell them that they are not slaves and that they have Freedom. You tell them they need Law and Order to protect them against bad slaves. Then you tell them to elect a Government. Give them Freedom to vote and they will vote for their own guards and pay their salary. They will then believe they are Free persons. Then give them money to earn, count, and spend and they will be too busy to notice the slavery they are in.” - Alexander Warbucks

A teacher of mine said to the class: "You may not like studying for now, but you will regret lacking education for the rest of your life"

So basically trade in half of your childhood to have a better time for most of the rest of your life (yeah work may suck, but with better education you can more easily find something you don't hate)

If you can't love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else.

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone is fighting some kind of battle.

Today is a good day to die

This is meaningful to me because it's a place I must try and be in every day. Leave nothing for chance and understand that I can die at any moment so I must always be one step in front of it.

This is what the white men believe Crazy Horse would say in Lakota as a battle cry. It was probably more like "come on let's go" but it wasn't so much the words but the message behind them. It's a heavy mental mindset that you are ready to die today if that's what happens. It means you have lived with honor and respect. Your family knows your love for them. You have shown your ancestors respect so they will be waiting for you, welcoming you to the other world as a warrior coming home. This is a power place to be, especially if you have to face a life and death situation.

So this is the battle cry

Hokahey! Nake nula wauŋ welo!

Let's do this! I am ready for what comes!

This is not a famous thing, it's just that I've heard someone at a past workplace say this.

"Doing the same thing that got you here into this position will not make you successful in it, it may not even be enough for you to keep it."

To be clear, he wasn't saying it to me or anyone, he said it to himself as a life lesson he learned going through promotions and changing companies. The point was to stay humble and don't expect your past accomplishments to get you through future challenges.

Some people give me shit for it, but one that's actually gotten me through some struggles is "despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage." I have a tendency to push back against things that feel unfair/unjust and it often is more destructive and time-consuming than it's worth. Sometimes i need a reminder to just accept things the way they are.

"Strong opinions loosely held"

Implying you should have the courage to fight for what you believe is right but not hold onto them once you're proven wrong.

I learned this as a company culture thing from one of my previous employers and not sure if there's another source for it. I did not like that employer very much in the end but this quote has been stuck with me since and I live by it.

"Money I got, time I don't."

My dad said this offhanded joking remark to me 30 years ago and it lives rent free in my head. It's a privileged view point for sure but I took it to mean save and be prepared but don't be frugal toa detriment. Spend on things you love and spend away on things you hate. Don't waste time if you can afford not to.

"Always remember: never accept the world for what it appears to be. Dare to see it for what it could be." -Overwatch

"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind." -Gandhi

The absence of limitations is the enemy of creativity

• Orson Welles, I believe

German quote from an old podcast: Konsequenz heißt auch Holzwege zuende gehen.

Rough translation: Being consequent means also following the wrong path to the end.

It's used for people or organisations that tend to stick to a decision to the end, even if that decision was obviously flawed. E.g. sticking to extremely stick to a regulation even if it's outdated/was dumb from the beginning. Corporate password policies are a good example.

far from the eyes, far from the heart

Don't even know why

"This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time. You have to learn to live with it. You have a simple choice now. Live with it below the sea with Louis, or above the clouds with the Enterprise."

"Everything will be forgotten and nothing will be repaired", from Milan Kundera.

Take your time

Better to do it than live with the fear of it, I always say