“
Rejection is an opportunity for your selection.
”
”
Bernard Branson
“
It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.
”
”
Germany Kent
“
It's funny how, in this journey of life, even though we may begin at different times and places, our paths cross with others so that we may share our love, compassion, observations, and hope. This is a design of God that I appreciate and cherish.
”
”
Steve Maraboli (Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience)
“
If an apology is followed by an excuse or a reason, it means they are going to commit same mistake again they just apologized for.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
The more you talk about it, rehash it, rethink it, cross analyze it, debate it, respond to it, get paranoid about it, compete with it, complain about it, immortalize it, cry over it, kick it, defame it, stalk it, gossip about it, pray over it, put it down or dissect its motives it continues to rot in your brain. It is dead. It is over. It is gone. It is done. It is time to bury it because it is smelling up your life and no one wants to be near your rotted corpse of memories and decaying attitude. Be the funeral director of your life and bury that thing!
”
”
Shannon L. Alder
“
Nothing like having a warrant for your execution to get a girl motivated.
”
”
Maria V. Snyder (Fire Study (Study, #3))
“
Intelligence is more important than strength, that is why earth is ruled by men and not by animals.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
We love being mentally strong, but we hate situations that allow us to put our mental strength to good use.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
First people lose their hair, then their vices, then their motivation. Then a toupee brings it all flowing back.
”
”
Bauvard (Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic)
“
When you are angry try your best to go to sleep, it keeps you away from speaking, writing and thinking while you are angry.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Memories make you sentimental, experiences make you smart.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
Do you know where your breakthrough begins? Your breakthrough begins where your excuses ends.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
A book can give you an experience of someone’s life in a few hours, and this is far more profitable than any sale that’s going on.
”
”
Neeraj Agnihotri (In The Name Of Blasphemy)
“
I don't understand this irony - valuable things like cars, gold, diamond are made up of hard materials but most valuable things like money, contracts and books are made up of soft paper.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Majority wins, but majority is not necessarily right and sometimes majority is awfully wrong.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
I chase goals, not girls.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
The middle class were invented to give the poor hope; the poor, to make the rich feel special; the rich, to humble the middle class.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
You gazed at the moon and fell in the gutter.
”
”
Thomas Fuller
“
Hate was a funny thing. It gnawed at her insides like poison. It made every muscle in her body tense, made her veins boil so hot she thought her head might split in half, and yet it fueled everything she did. Hate was its own kind of fire and if you had nothing else, it kept you warm
”
”
R.F. Kuang (The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1))
“
The primary feature of women is not a 'beauty', it's a 'mystery'.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
You will miss a normal life while living a successful life, but not as much as the craving for a successful life while you were living a normal life.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Extroverts communicate well with others, Introverts communicate well with themselves
”
”
Pablo
“
Reading is the noblest of all the hobbies, that is why people mention it so frequently in their resume even if they don't read much.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
In spite of being complicated people choose superstitions over common sense.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
It’s possible to be flippant here, when Jihadists fly aircraft into buildings they shout God is Great, what do atheists shout when they do it?
”
”
Martin Amis (The Second Plane: September 11, 2001-2007)
“
I don't beg for those things which can be earned.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Max's scarred brow crinkled. He reached for the coffee mug on his desk. “Motive is tricky. See, what might be a good reason for me to kill someone might not be a good enough reason for you to kill someone."
Swift stared at his hands loosely clasped around his ankle. “I wouldn't. Deliberately hurt anyone."
"And my impulse is to hurt anyone who hurts you.” When Swift's gaze lifted to his, Max said, “See how that works?"
He did, and while it wasn't intended as a compliment, it did warm his heart in a funny way. He managed to joke, “Why, I think that's the most romantic thing anyone's ever said to me.
”
”
Josh Lanyon (Come Unto These Yellow Sands)
“
Like alcohol and poverty, a heartbreak has the power to make a man do something he wouldn’t normally do and to make a woman do someone she wouldn’t normally do.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.
”
”
Oliver Markus Malloy (Bad Choices Make Good Stories - Finding Happiness in Los Angeles (How The Great American Opioid Epidemic of The 21st Century Began, #3))
“
For when I speak of the banality of evil, I do so only on the strictly factual level, pointing to a phenomenon which stared one in the face at the trial. Eichmann was not Iago and not Macbeth, and nothing would have been farther from his mind than to determine with Richard III 'to prove a villain.' Except for an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement, he had no motives at all… He merely, to put the matter colloquially, never realized what he was doing… It was sheer thoughtlessness—something by no means identical with stupidity—that predisposed him to become one of the greatest criminals of that period. And if this is 'banal' and even funny, if with the best will in the world one cannot extract any diabolical or demonic profundity from Eichmann, this is still far from calling it commonplace… That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man—that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem.
”
”
Hannah Arendt (Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil)
“
Well, I'm glad you're so amused," I said, running my fingers across the railing.
Maxon hopped up to sit on the railing, looking very relaxed. "You're always amusing. Get used to it."
Hmm. He was almost being funny.
"So...about what you said...," he started tentatively.
"Which part? The part about me calling you names or fighting with my mom or saying food was my motivation?" I rolled my eyes.
He laughed once. "The part about me being good..."
"Oh. What about it?" Those few sentences suddenly seemed more embarrassing than anything else I'd said. I ducked my head down and twisted a piece of my dress.
"I appreciate you making things look authentic, but you didn't need to go that far."
My head snapped up. How could he think that?
"Maxon, that wasn't for the sake of the show. If you had asked me a month ago what my honest opinion of you was, it would have been very different. But now I know you, and I know the truth, and you are everything I said you were. And more."
He was quiet, but there was a small smile on his face.
"Thank you," he finally said.
"Anytime."
Maxon cleared his throat. "He'll be lucky, too." He got down from his makeshift seat and walked to my side of the balcony.
"Huh?"
"Your boyfriend. When he comes to his senses and begs you to take him back," Maxon said matter-of-factly.
I had to laugh. No such thing would happen in y world.
"he's not my boyfriend anymore. And he made it pretty clear he was gone with me." Even I could hear the tiny bit of hope in my voice.
"Not possible. He'll have seen you on TV by now and fallen for you all over again. Though, in my opinion, you're still much too good for the dog." Maxon spoke almost as if he was bored, like he'd seen this happen a million times.
"Speaking of which!" he said a bit louder. "If you don't want me to be in love with you, you're going to have to stop looking so lovely. First thing tomorrow I'm having your maids sew some potato sacks together for you."
I hit his arm. "Shut up, Maxon."
"I'm not kidding. You're too beautiful for your own good. Once you leave, we'll have to send some of the guards with you. You'll never survive on your own, poor thing." He said all this with mock pity.
"I can't help it." I sighed. "One can never help being born into perfection." I fanned my face as if being so pretty was exhausting.
"No, I don't suppose you can help it.
”
”
Kiera Cass (The Selection (The Selection, #1))
“
I agree that sometimes it is difficult to choose between right and wrong, but not between right and stupid.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Ambition is a funny thing: it creeps in when you least expect it and keeps you moving, even when you think you want to stay put
”
”
Lena Dunham (Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned")
“
There is a miracle in your mess, don't let the mess make you miss the miracle.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Remember, crowd doesn't care about common sense.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Never give up hope! If you do, you be dead already.
”
”
Rose in The Inspired Caregiver
“
You're FAT - and don't try to sugarcoat it, because you'll just eat that, too.
”
”
Phillip C. McGraw
“
The more thou search, the more thou shall marvel.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
Food for thought: Every dead body on Mount Everest was once a highly motivated person. Stay lazy my friends. It may save your life one day.
”
”
Oliver Markus Malloy (How to Defeat the Trump Cult: Want to Save Democracy? Share This Book)
“
I decided to do the easy task of changing situations and conditions by being a hero, than staying back to do the difficult task of changing people by being just a man.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
You will have relatively less problems to solve, if you don't confuse problems with inconveniences.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
No kind of social system can make you more happier and secure than your own money.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
They told me that nothing was a sin, just a poor life choice. Poor impulse control. That nothing is evil. Any concept of right versus wrong, according to them, is merely a cultural construct relative to one specific time and place. They said that if anything should force us to modify our personal behavior it should be our allegiance to a social contract, not some vague, externally imposed threat of flaming punishment.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Damned (Damned, #1))
“
You've never heard of bagpipes?" Cody asked, sounding aghast. "They're as Scottish as kilts and red armpit hair!"
"Um . . . yuck?" I said.
"That's it." Cody said. "Steelheart has to fall so we can get back to educating children properly. This is an offense against the dignity of my motherland."
"Great," Prof said. "I'm glad we now have proper motivation.
”
”
Brandon Sanderson (Steelheart (The Reckoners, #1))
“
To evade arrogance, remind yourself (from time to time) that your talent or success could have been better. To be thankful, remind yourself (every now and then) that your illness or failure could have been worse.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
Innovation Big pain, no shame being same-to-same
”
”
Praveen Kumar
“
Love is as we will it to be." ~ Amunhotep El Bey
”
”
Amunhotep Chavis El Bey (The Quotations Book of life and Death)
“
Only love will attract love.”~ Amunhotep El Bey
”
”
Amunhotep Chavis El Bey (The Quotations Book of life and Death)
“
Hands can cook, hands can create, hands can kill. There is no better tool than our hands.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
Be careful because God's gifts alone are not able to give you joy; God's gift can only bring you joy when they are joined with your gratitude.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
All the failures in my life freed me from all my fears so that I can succeed.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
If one million of you give assent to the one thousand who participate in the murder of a child, then one million of you are a million times guilty.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
If you have money but not love you will somehow manage, but if you don't have both then you are in serious trouble.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. -W.M. Lewis (1878 – 1945)
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
To the issues of friendship, love, business and war, "surprise" is the optimistic solution.
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
Sometimes what not to do is more important than what to do. Sometimes when you are in crisis, when frustration are high or when you are under pressure, what you don't do is more important than what you do. Don't be afraid. ....
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Life is a mighty joke that is not meant to be funny.
”
”
Janvier Chouteu-Chando (Disciples of Fortune)
“
Funny how money speaks even more loudly than morals in this beautiful, superficial material world.
”
”
Rasheed Ogunlaru
“
Don't worry about life, you're not going to survive it anyway. -Anon
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life. -Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962)
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
Don't, but if at all, then, lie to the whole damn world - never to your own damn, silly stupid self.
”
”
Fakeer Ishavardas
“
Justice is about harmony... revenge is about you making yourself feel better.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
You are only Half Happy unless you love them both equally: Friday & Monday!
”
”
Mohith Agadi
“
The harder you search the more troubled you become.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
No crime is a means to an end. No crime can be rationalized.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
Not obedience or feelings or respect, there is only one thing which people take seriously at all time and its "money".
”
”
Amit Kalantri
“
The night before a day off is more satisfying than the actual day off.
”
”
Pratik Thakker
“
I don’t understand why people keep pushing that “Don’t be some random person. BE UNIQUE” message. You’re already incredibly unique. Everyone is incredibly unique. That’s why the police use fingerprints to identify people. So you’re incredibly unique … but in the exact same way that everyone else is. (Which, admittedly, doesn’t really sing and is never going to make it on a motivational T-shirt.) So none of us are unique in being unique because being unique is pretty much the least unique thing you can be, because it comes naturally to everyone. So perhaps instead of “BE UNIQUE” we should be saying, “Be as visibly fucked up as you want to be because being unique is already taken.” By everyone, ironically enough. Or maybe we should change the message to “Don’t just be some random person. Be the MOST random person.
”
”
Jenny Lawson (Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things)
“
... there occurred to me the simple epitaph which, when I am no more, I intend to have inscribed on my tombstone. It was this: “He was a man who acted from the best motives. There is one born every minute.
”
”
P.G. Wodehouse (Absent Treatment)
“
If you ask me I think the greatest breakthrough each and everyone of us need is not on finance, marriage, work, relationship, own house, car but self. The first breakthrough should start from being selfish.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
Gratitude without practicing maybe like practicing a faith without good work. A grateful heart is not enough without a grateful habit; because your joy is not produced by what you put in your heart but by habit you put in your life.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
I stare past her at the inspirational kitten posters. There's one of a soaking-wet kitten climbing out of a toilet with the caption "it could be worse!"
"Just tell me whatever it is you're thinking," Mrs. Paulsen says. "Whatever is going through your mind right now."
"I hope they didn't actually drop a cat in the toilet to get that picture," I choke out.
"...Pardon?"
"Nothing. Sorry.
”
”
Robin Stevenson (The World Without Us)
“
If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner. -Tallulah Bankhead (1903-68) How much of human life is lost in waiting. -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) Only a life lived for others is worth living. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
Whenever I'm running an hour late for for work, it always makes me feel better when I can leave an hour early at the end of the day to make up for it.
”
”
Mark W. Boyer
“
In examinations, the foolish ask questions the wise cannot answer. -Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life. And the body is born young and grows old. That is life's tragedy. -Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn. -David Russell (1942- ) Life is all about timing...
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
Lack of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or ability.
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
Thy heart had gone too far in this world, and think thou to comprehend the way of the most High?
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
Even so have I given the womb of the earth to those that be sown in it in their times.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
As for you, you're unwise: how may you then speak of these things whereof thou ask you?
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
They that be born in the strength of youth are of one fashion, and they that are born in the time of age, when the womb fail, are otherwise.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate. -Linda Grayson One
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
I know it sounds abysmal…” he chuckled at the mere thought of it, “but I just want to be happy and content”
“Do you not dream big? Do you not want to travel?”
Kalki rounded his arms around his little brother. “Perhaps I chose not to. Perhaps big doesn’t always matter. It’s also the little things, specks of happiness that we go through in a day that we should look out for. It’s funny how grief makes you realize the good things you have overlooked in life
”
”
Kevin Missal (Dharmayoddha Kalki: Avatar Of Vishnu (Kalki #1))
“
There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning, the only reason you suffer the shitty boss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. "Fear or revere me, but please think I'm special." We share an addiction. We're approval junkies. We're all in it for the slap on the back and the gold watch. The "hip, hip, hoo-fucking-rah." Look at the clever boy with the badge, polishing his trophy. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Cos we're just monkeys wrapped in suits, begging for the approval of others.
”
”
Guy Ritchie
“
If negative emotions have gain access into your heart, it is because you have given it attention. If memories of pain and hurt dominates your heart, it is because you gave them attention. How can a memory hurt you when it has only happened? It can only hurt you when you give it attention.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
More often than not, an inspirational or motivational speaker is someone who makes money from telling us that we can do all of the things that we can do … and pretty much all of the things that we cannot do.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
The greatest futility! says the congregator, "The greatest futility! Everything is futile!" What does a person gain from all his hard work- At which he toils under the sun? A generation goes and another cometh forth, but the earth remains the same.
”
”
COMPTON GAGE
“
The really destructive feature of their relationship is its inherent quality of boredom. It is quite natural for Peter often to feel bored with Otto - they have scarecely a single interest in common - but Peter, for sentimental reasons, will never admit that this is so. When Otto, who has no such motives for pretending, says, "It's so dull here!" I invariably see Peter wince and looked pained. Yet Otto is actually far less often bored than Peter himself; he finds Peter's company genuinely amusing, and is quite glad to be with him most of the day. Often, when Otto has been chattering rubbish for an hour without stopping, I can see that Peter really longs for him to be quiet and go away. But to admit this would be, in Peter's eyes, a total defeat, so he only laughs and rubs his hands, tacitly appealing to me to support him in his pretense of finding Otto inexhaustibly delightful and funny.
”
”
Christopher Isherwood (Goodbye to Berlin)
“
The open door is never behind you; the open door is always before you. Quit looking at your past life and mistakes. Look unto Jesus who is the Author and Perfector of our faith. Your open door is not in the opportunity you missed ten years ago, it is not in some stuffs behind you that you can't get back. You can't gain your access by giving attention to your past life.
Your past days are behind you and what God has for you is in front of you. Just pay attention.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
New Rule: Not everything in America has to make a profit. If conservatives get to call universal health care "socialized medicine," I get to call private, for-profit health care "soulless vampire bastards making money off human pain." Now, I know what you're thinking: "But, Bill, the profit motive is what sustains capitalism." Yes, and our sex drive is what sustains the human species, but we don't try to fuck everything.
It wasn't that long ago when a kid in America broke his leg, his parents took him to the local Catholic hospital, the nun stuck a thermometer in his ass, the doctor slapped some plaster on his ankle, and you were done. The bill was $1.50; plus, you got to keep the thermometer.
But like everything else that's good and noble in life, some bean counter decided that hospitals could be big business, so now they're not hospitals anymore; they're Jiffy Lubes with bedpans. The more people who get sick, and stay sick, the higher their profit margins, which is why they're always pushing the Jell-O.
Did you know that the United States is ranked fiftieth in the world in life expectancy? And the forty-nine loser countries were they live longer than us? Oh, it's hardly worth it, they may live longer, but they live shackled to the tyranny of nonprofit health care. Here in America, you're not coughing up blood, little Bobby, you're coughing up freedom. The problem with President Obama's health-care plan isn't socialism. It's capitalism. When did the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When did that become the new patriotism? Ask not what you could do for your country, ask what's in it for Blue Cross Blue Shield.
And it's not just medicine--prisons also used to be a nonprofit business, and for good reason--who the hell wants to own a prison? By definition, you're going to have trouble with the tenants. It's not a coincidence that we outsourced running prisons to private corporations and then the number of prisoners in America skyrocketed.
There used to be some things we just didn't do for money. Did you know, for example, there was a time when being called a "war profiteer" was a bad thing? FDR said he didn't want World War II to create one millionaire, but I'm guessing Iraq has made more than a few executives at Halliburton into millionaires. Halliburton sold soldiers soda for $7.50 a can. They were honoring 9/11 by charging like 7-Eleven. Which is wrong. We're Americans; we don't fight wars for money. We fight them for oil.
And my final example of the profit motive screwing something up that used to be good when it was nonprofit: TV news. I heard all the news anchors this week talk about how much better the news coverage was back in Cronkite's day. And I thought, "Gee, if only you were in a position to do something about it.
”
”
Bill Maher (The New New Rules: A Funny Look At How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass)
“
You see, religion is really a kind of second womb. It’s designed to bring this extremely complicated thing, which is a human being, to maturity, which means to be self-motivating, self-acting. But the idea of sin puts you in a servile condition throughout your life. MOYERS: But that’s not the Christian idea of creation and the Fall. CAMPBELL: I once heard a lecture by a wonderful old Zen philosopher, Dr. D. T. Suzuki. He stood up with his hands slowly rubbing his sides and said, “God against man. Man against God. Man against nature. Nature against man. Nature against God. God against nature—very funny religion!
”
”
Joseph Campbell (The Power of Myth)
“
99 Problems is almost a deliberate provocation to simpleminded listeners. If that sounds crazy, you have to understand: Being misunderstood is almost a badge of honor in rap. Growing up as a black kid from the projects, you can spend your whole life being misunderstood, followed around department stores, looked at funny, accused of crimes you didn't commit, accused of motivations you don't have, dehumanized -- until you realize, one day, it's not about you. It's the perceptions people had long before you even walked onto the scene. The joke's on them because they're really just fighting phantoms of their own creation. Once you realize that, things get interesting. It's like when we were kids. You'd start bopping hard and throwing the ice grill when you step into Macy's and laugh to yourself when security guards got nervous and started shadowing you. You might have a knot of cash in your pocket, but you boost something anyway, just for the sport of it. Fuck 'em. Sometimes the mask is to hide and sometimes it's to play at being something you're not so you can watch the reactions of people who believe the mask is real. Because that's when they reveal themselves. So many people can't see that every great rapper is a not just a documentarian, but a trickster -- that every great rapper has a little bit of Chuck and a little bit of Flav in them -- but that's not our problem, it's their failure: the failure, or unwillingness, to treat rap like art, instead of acting like it's a bunch of niggas reading out of their diaries. Art elevates and refines and transforms experience. And sometimes it just fucks with you for the fun of it.
”
”
Jay-Z
“
Laughter may not be nearly as expressive as language, but it has two properties that make it ideal for navigating sensitive topics. First, it’s relatively honest. With words, it’s too easy to pay lip service to rules we don’t really care about, or values that we don’t genuinely feel in our gut. But laughter, because it’s involuntary, doesn’t lie—at least not as much. “In risu veritas,” said James Joyce; “In laughter, there is truth.”51 Second, laughter is deniable. In this way, it gives us safe harbor, an easy out. When someone accuses us of laughing inappropriately, it’s easy to brush off. “Oh, I didn’t really understand what she meant,” we might demur. Or, “Come on, lighten up! It was only a joke!” And we can deliver these denials with great conviction because we really don’t have a clear understanding of what our laughter means or why we find funny things funny. Our brains just figure it out, without burdening “us” with too many damning details.
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Kevin Simler (The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life)
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On reflection, looking at shows like this and considering my own experiences, what fascinated me was that we have so many stories like this that help us empathize with monstrous men. “Yes, these men are flawed, but they are not as evil as this man.” Even more chilling, they tend to be stories that paint women as roadblocks, aggressors, antagonists, complications—but only in the context of them being a bitch, a whore, a Madonna. The women are never people.
Stories about monstrous men are not meant to teach us how to empathize with the women and children murdered, but with the men fighting over their bodies.
As a woman menaced by monsters, I find this particularly interesting, this erasure of me from a narrative meant to, if not justify, then explain the brokenness of men. There are shows much better at this, of course, which don’t paint women out of the story—Mad Men is the first to come to mind, and Game of Thrones—but True Detective doubled down.
The women terrorized by monsters in real life are active agents. They are monster-slayers, monster-pacifiers, monster-nurturers, monster-wranglers—and some of them are monsters, too. In truth, if we are telling a tale of those who fight monsters, it fascinates me that we are not telling more women’s stories, as we’ve spun so many narratives like True Detective that so blatantly illustrate the sexist masculinity trap that turns so many human men into the very things they despise.
Where are the women who fight them? Who partner with them? Who overcome them? Who battle their own monsters to fight greater ones?
Because I have and continue to be one of those women, navigating a horror show world of monsters and madmen. We are women who write books and win awards and fight battles and carve out extraordinary lives from ruin and ash. We are not background scenery, our voices silenced, our motives and methods constrained to sex.
I cannot fault the show’s men for forgetting that; they’ve created the world as they see it. But I can prod the show’s exceptional writers, because in erasing the narrative of those whose very existence is constantly threatened by these monsters, including trusted monsters whose natures vacillate wildly, they sided with the monsters.
I’m not a bit player in a monster’s story. But with narratives like this perpetuated across our media, it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s how my obituary read: a catalogue of the men who sired me, and fucked me, and courted me.
Stories that are not my own.
Funny, isn’t it? The power of story.
It’s why I picked up a pen.
I slay monsters, too.
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Kameron Hurley (The Geek Feminist Revolution)
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A long time ago Ian had told her he was half in love with her, yet now that they were betrothed he’d never spoken a word of it, had not even pretended. She wasn’t certain of his motives or his feelings; she wasn’t certain of her own, either. All she really knew was that the sight of his hard, handsome face with its chiseled features, and hold amber eyes never failed to make her entire being feel tense and alive. She knew he liked to kis her, and that she very much liked being kissed by him. Added to his other attractions was something else that drew her inexorably to him: From their very first meeting, Elizabeth had sensed that beneath his bland sophistication and rugged virility Ian Thornton had a depth that most people lacked. “It’s so hard to know,” she whispered, “how I ought to feel or what I ought to think. And I have the worst feeling it’s not going to matter what I know or what I think,” she added almost sadly, “because I am going to love him.” She opened her eyes and looked at Alex. “It’s happening, and I cannot stop it. It was happening two years ago, and I couldn’t stop it then, either. So you see,” she added with a sad little smile, “it would be so much nicer for me if you could love him just a little, too.”
Alex reached across the table and took Elizabeth’s hands in hers. “If you love him, then he must be the very best of men. I shall henceforth make it a point to see all his best qualities!” Alex hesitated, and then she hazarded the question: “Elizabeth, does he love you?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “He wants me, he says, and he wants children.”
Alex swallowed embarrassed laughter. “He what?”
“He wants me, and he wants children.”
A funny, knowing smile tugged at Alexandra’s lips. “You didn’t tell me he said the first part. I am much encouraged,” she teased while a rosy blush stole over her cheeks.
“I think I am, too,” Elizabeth admitted, drawing a swift, searching look from Alex.
“Elizabeth, this is scarcely the time to discuss this-in fact,” Alex added, her flush deepening. “I don’t think there is a really good time to discuss it-but has Lucinda explained to you how children are conceived?”
“Yes, of course,” Elizabeth said without hesitation.
“Good, because I would have been the logical one otherwise, and I still remember my reaction when I found out. It was not a pretty sight,” she laughed. “On the other hand, you were always much the wiser girl than I.”
“I don’t think so at all,” Elizabeth said, but she couldn’t imagine what there was, really, to blush about. Children, Lucinda had told her when she’d asked, were conceived when a husband kissed his wife in be. And it hurt the first time. Ian’s kisses were sometimes almost bruising, but they never actually hurt, and she enjoyed them terribly.
As if speaking her feelings aloud to Alexandra had somehow relieved her of the burden of trying to deal with them, Elizabeth was so joyously relaxed that she suspected Ian noticed it at once when the men joined them in the drawing room.
Ian did notice it; in fact, as they sat down to play a game of cards in accordance with Elizabeth’s cheery suggestion, he noticed there was a subtle but distinct softening in the attitudes of both ladies toward him.
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Judith McNaught (Almost Heaven (Sequels, #3))