Probably the biggest disappointment of adult life is learning that unlike in all of the stories you’ve seen, actual villains are only motivated by two things:
- bigotry
- money
Kategori: Citat
Pilen på et moralsk kompas
Ideale sind wie Sterne. Man kann sie nicht erreichen, aber man kann sich an ihnen orientieren.
– Carl Schurz
Spiritual reality
Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual.
– Carl Sagan: The Demon-Haunted World
Men en gnist
What is the meaning of life? That was all- a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.
– Virginia Woolf
Nu bliver jeg aldrig mere fri, ej heller ønsker jeg det
Du gjorde det igen
Alldeles nyss
Du sa det där man aldrig får säga
Du sa det till mig, det outhärdligt
Hänsynstlöst förbjudna
Du sa jag älskar dig, jag älskar dig
Jag älskar dig
Du la din hand på min rygg
Jag vände mig om och du gjorde
Det man aldrig får göra
Du strök min panna med stora, varma
Sträva, trygga händer
Och sa, jag älskar dig, jag älskar dig, jag älskar dig
Säg det igen, säg det igen, säg det igen
Jag vill höra, så säg det igen, säg det igen
Säg det igen, säg det igen
Nu blir jag aldrig mera fri
Nu har du mig fast
Jag kan aldrig nånsin leva förutan
Du sa det till mig, det jag längtat hela livet
Att få höra
Du sa, jag älskar dig, jag älskar dig, jag älskar dig
Och säg det igen, säg det igen, säg det igen
Jag vill höra, så säg det igen, säg det igen, säg det igen
Säg det igen, säg det igen
– Lisa Nilsson: Säg det igen
Enden på alt – og fremtiden
Why didn’t I learn to treat everything like it was the last time. My greatest regret was how much I believed in the future.
– Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Det unødvendige trængte sig imidlertid på
One third, more or less, of all the sorrow that the person I think I am must endure is unavoidable. The remaining two thirds of all sorrow is homemade and, so far as the universe is concerned, unnecessary.
– Aldous Huxley
Den langsomme udvej
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Implikationer
Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
– Arthur C. Clarke
Undoings
Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy…. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
– Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death (forord)