β
What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.
β
β
Maya Angelou (Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now)
β
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
β
β
William Arthur Ward
β
We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.
β
β
Alphonse Karr (A Tour Round My Garden (1856))
β
Maturity is when you stop complaining and making excuses, and start making changes.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or make excuses.
β
β
Brian Tracy
β
Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.
β
β
Jean de La Bruyère (Les Caractères)
β
Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them.
β
β
Bill Maher
β
Why does a woman work ten years to change a man, then complain he's not the man she married?
β
β
Barbra Streisand
β
Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others...By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.
β
β
Gordon B. Hinckley
β
Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemnβand most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.
β
β
Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends & Influence People)
β
Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.
β
β
Rainer Maria Rilke
β
Your father, Jo. He never loses patience, never doubts or complains, but always hopes, and works and waits so cheerfully that one is ashamed to do otherwise before him.
β
β
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)
β
Do not complain beneath the stars about the lack of bright spots in your life.
β
β
BjΓΈrnstjerne BjΓΈrnson
β
Keep climbing,' he told himself.
'Cheeseburgers,' his stomach replied.
'Shut up,' he thought.
'With fries,' his stomach complained.
β
β
Rick Riordan (The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus, #4))
β
Too often the people complain that they have done nothing with their
lives and then they wait for somebody to tell them that this isn't so.
β
β
Charles Bukowski (What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire)
β
Curiosity killed the cat,β Fesgao remarked, his dark eyes unreadable.
Aly rolled her eyes. Why did everyone say that to her? βPeople always forget the rest of the saying,β she complained. ββAnd satisfaction brought it back.
β
β
Tamora Pierce (Trickster's Choice (Daughter of the Lioness, #1))
β
Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.
β
β
Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)
β
If you place your head in a lion's mouth, then you cannot complain one day if he happens to bite it off.
β
β
Agatha Christie
β
You're beautiful, but you're empty...One couldn't die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she's the one I've watered. Since she's the one I put under glass, since she's the one I sheltered behind the screen. Since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three butterflies). Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she's my rose.
β
β
Antoine de Saint-ExupΓ©ry (The Little Prince)
β
Oh, come on!β Percy complained. βI get a little nosebleed and I wake up the entire earth? Thatβs not fair!
β
β
Rick Riordan (The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5))
β
We kill all the caterpillars, then complain there are no butterflies.
β
β
John Marsden (The Dead of Night (Tomorrow, #2))
β
I've wanted one thing for me whole life and I'm not going to be that girl who wants one thing her whole life then gets it and complains.
β
β
Taylor Swift
β
Never tell your problems to anyone...20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.
β
β
Lou Holtz
β
There were people who went to sleep last night,
poor and rich and white and black,
but they will never wake again.
And those dead folks would give anything at all
for just five minutes of this weather
or ten minutes of plowing.
So you watch yourself about complaining.
What you're supposed to do
when you don't like a thing is change it.
If you can't change it,
change the way you think about it.
β
β
Maya Angelou
β
I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I'd catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I'd seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I'd realize that you weren't there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I've risked my life for you. I've walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I'd do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don't tell me why we don't belong together," he said fiercely.
β
β
Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1))
β
That's the advantage of insomnia. People who go to be early always complain that the night is too short, but for those of us who stay up all night, it can feel as long as a lifetime. You get a lot done
β
β
Banana Yoshimoto (N.P)
β
There are a lot of things I wish I would have done, instead of just sitting around and complaining about having a boring life.
β
β
Kurt Cobain
β
One does no question miracles, or complain that they are no constructed perfectly to one's liking.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices, #3))
β
Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings)
β
I have always found that actively loving
saves one from a morbid preoccupation
with the shortcomings of society.
β
β
Alan Paton
β
Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.
β
β
Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture)
β
It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.
β
β
G.K. Chesterton
β
Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain
β
β
Henry Ford
β
I don't think I could love you so much if you had nothing to complain of and nothing to regret. I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and of little value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.
β
β
Boris Pasternak (Doctor Zhivago)
β
Why is it that all cars are women?" he asked.
"Because they're fussy and demanding," answered Zee.
"Because if they were men, they'd sit around and complain instead of getting the job done," I told him.
β
β
Patricia Briggs (Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, #5))
β
Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing.
β
β
Thomas Jefferson (Letters of Thomas Jefferson)
β
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
β
β
Lily Tomlin
β
Men always say that as the defining compliment, donβt they? Sheβs a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like sheβs hosting the worldβs biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I donβt mind, Iβm the Cool Girl.
Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe theyβre fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men β friends, coworkers, strangers β giddy over these awful pretender women, and Iβd want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men whoβd like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. Iβd want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesnβt really love chili dogs that much β no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: Theyβre not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, theyβre pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if youβre not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesnβt want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version β maybe heβs a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe heβs a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesnβt ever complain. (How do you know youβre not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: βI like strong women.β If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because βI like strong womenβ is code for βI hate strong women.β)
β
β
Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)
β
It is therefore senseless to think of complaining since nothing foreign has decided what we feel, what we live, or what we are.
β
β
Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness)
β
I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.
β
β
Jane Wagner (The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe)
β
Eurydice, dying now a second time, uttered no complaint against her husband. What was there to complain of, but that she had been loved?
β
β
Ovid (Metamorphoses)
β
I am what you designed me to be.I am your blade. You cannot now complain if you also feel the hurt
β
β
Charles Dickens (Great Expectations)
β
The first time Calypso came to check on [Leo], it was to complain about the noise.
βSmoke and fire,β she said. βClanging on metal all day long. Youβre scaring away the birds!β
βOh, no, not the birds!
β
β
Rick Riordan (The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus, #4))
β
A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.
β
β
Oscar Wilde
β
One who makes himself a worm cannot complain afterwards if people step on him.
β
β
Immanuel Kant
β
Haven't you learned anything, not even with the approach of death? Stop thinking all the time that you're in the way, that you're bothering the person next to you. If people don't like it, they can complain. And if they don't have the courage to complain, that's their problem
β
β
Paulo Coelho (Veronika Decides to Die)
β
She raised an eyebrow. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"
You'd probably kick my butt."
You know I'd kick your butt."
I brushed the cake off my hands. "When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable . . . Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal."
Annabeth kept her eyes on the horizon. "Yeah?"
Then up on Olympus," I said, "when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking-"
Oh, you so wanted to."
Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought-I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking . . ." My throat felt really dry.
Anyone in particular?" Annabeth asked, her voice soft.
I looked over and saw that she was trying not to smile.
You're laughing at me," I complained.
I am not!"
You are so not making this easy."
Then she laughed for real, and she put her hands
around my neck. "I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it.
β
β
Rick Riordan (The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5))
β
Like crying wolf, if you keep looking for sympathy as a justification for your actions, you will someday be left standing alone when you really need help.
β
β
Criss Jami (Killosophy)
β
Whatever our fate is or may be, we have made it and do not complain of it."
- Vronksy {Anna Karenina}
β
β
Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina)
β
Life was messy. Always had been and always would be and that was just the way it was, so why bother complaining? You either did something about it or you didnβt, and then you lived with the choice you made.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (The Best of Me)
β
Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one tenth the enrgy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out.
β
β
Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture)
β
The reason for the unreason with which you treat my reason , so weakens my reason that with reason I complain of your beauty.
β
β
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
β
Do not whine... Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.
β
β
Joan Didion (Blue Nights)
β
Complain and remain. Praise and be raised.
β
β
Joyce Meyer
β
Tune your television to any channel it doesn't receive and about 1 percent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by this ancient remnant of the Big Bang. The next time you complain that there is nothing on, remember that you can always watch the birth of the universe.
β
β
Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything)
β
People complain about the bad things that happen to em that they don't deserve but they seldom mention the good. About what they done to deserve them things
β
β
Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men)
β
I might have known,β said Eeyore. βAfter all, one canβt complain. I have my friends. Somebody spoke to me only yesterday. And was it last week or the week before that Rabbit bumped into me and said βBother!β. The Social Round. Always something going on.
β
β
A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh, #1))
β
Magnus glared at him out of gold-green eyes. βIf I wanted to lie on a couch and
complain to someone about my parents, Iβd hire a psychiatrist.β
βAh,β said Jace. βBut my services are free.β
βI heard that about you.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
People are always complaining that life's not fair, but that simply isn't true. Life is extraordinarily fair. It's just not centered on you.
β
β
Lynn Marie Sager (A River Worth Riding)
β
(after listening to people gripe and complain just smile and remember)
Crows canβt hang with eagles.
β
β
Joel Osteen
β
There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life. A good life is not measured by any biblical span.
β
β
Ernest Hemingway (For Whom the Bell Tolls)
β
I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.
β
β
John Wayne
β
Before you call yourself a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or any other theology, learn to be human first.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
Donβt complain about the snow on your neighborβs roof when your own doorstep is unclean.
β
β
Confucius
β
No adolescent ever wants to be understood, which is why they complain about being misunderstood all the time.
β
β
Stephen Fry (Moab Is My Washpot (Memoir, #1))
β
You could move.' ---"Dear Abby" responds to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood.
β
β
Abigail Van Buren
β
Sometimes I think it is a great mistake to have matter that can think and feel. It complains so. By the same token, though, I suppose that boulders and mountains and moons could be accused of being a little too phlegmatic.
β
β
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
β
every pleasure's got an edge of pain, pay your ticket and don't complain
β
β
Bob Dylan
β
Donβt complain; just work harder.
β
β
Randy Pausch
β
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. Do not complain. Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.
β
β
Maya Angelou (Letter to My Daughter)
β
So I sent Halt to straighten matters out. Thought it might be a good idea to give him something to keep him busy."
So what's Digby got to complain about?" Rodney asked. It was obvious from his tone that he felt no sympathy for the recalcitrant commander of Barga Hold.
The Baron gestured for Lady Pauline to explain.
Apparently," she said,"Halt threw him into the moat.
β
β
John Flanagan (The Burning Bridge (Ranger's Apprentice, #2))
β
If I had my life to live over...
Someone asked me the other day if I had my life to live over would I change anything.
My answer was no, but then I thought about it and changed my mind.
If I had my life to live over again I would have waxed less and listened more.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy and complaining about the shadow over my feet, I'd have cherished every minute of it and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was to be my only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
I would have eaten popcorn in the "good" living room and worried less about the dirt when you lit the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would have burnt the pink candle that was sculptured like a rose before it melted while being stored.
I would have sat cross-legged on the lawn with my children and never worried about grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television ... and more while watching real life.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband which I took for granted.
I would have eaten less cottage cheese and more ice cream.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick, instead of pretending the Earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for a day.
I would never have bought ANYTHING just because it was practical/wouldn't show soil/ guaranteed to last a lifetime.
When my child kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now, go get washed up for dinner."
There would have been more I love yous ... more I'm sorrys ... more I'm listenings ... but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute of it ... look at it and really see it ... try it on ... live it ... exhaust it ... and never give that minute back until there was nothing left of it.
β
β
Erma Bombeck (Eat Less Cottage Cheese And More Ice Cream Thoughts On Life From Erma Bombeck)
β
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; 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.
β
β
George Bernard Shaw
β
This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. 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 what 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 to 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.
β
β
George Bernard Shaw
β
My daughter is seven, and some of the other second-grade parents complain that their children don't read for pleasure. When I visit their homes, the children's rooms are crammed with expensive books, but the parent's rooms are empty. Those children do not see their parents reading, as I did every day of my childhood. By contrast, when I walk into an apartment with books on the shelves, books on the bedside tables, books on the floor, and books on the toilet tank, then I know what I would see if I opened the door that says 'PRIVATE--GROWNUPS KEEP OUT': a child sprawled on the bed, reading.
β
β
Anne Fadiman (Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader)
β
Of course, maybe I'd end up like one of those crazy old people with, like, sixty cats. And one day, the neighbors would complain about the smell, and it would turn out I'd died and the cats had eaten me.
Still, it might be nice to have a cat.
β
β
Alex Flinn
β
The story goes that a public sinner was excommunicated and forbidden entry to the church. He took his woes to God. 'They won't let me in, Lord, because I am a sinner.'
'What are you complaining about?' said God. 'They won't let Me in either.
β
β
Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel)
β
Seniors get to do all the jolly things," Owen complained as they walked to archery practice that first day.
Neal glared at the chubby second-year with all the royal disdain of a vexed lion. He was limping from a staff blow to the knee. "You are a bloody minded-savage," he informed Owen sternly. "I hope you are kidnapped by centaurs.
β
β
Tamora Pierce (Page (Protector of the Small, #2))
β
Somebody has to go polish the stars,
They're looking a little bit dull.
Somebody has to go polish the stars,
For the eagles and starlings and gulls
Have all been complaining they're tarnished and worn,
They say they want new ones we cannot afford.
So please get your rags
And your polishing jars,
Somebody has to go polish the stars.
β
β
Shel Silverstein (A Light in the Attic)
β
See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.
β
β
Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment)
β
Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.
β
β
George Carlin
β
Eight full lives,β I whispered against his jaw, my voice breaking. βEight full lives and I never found anyone I would stay on a planet for, anyone I would follow when they left. I never found a partner. Why now? Why you? You're not of my species. How can you be my partner?β
βIt's a strange universe,β he murmured.
βIt's not fair,β I complained, echoing Sunny's words. It wasn't fair. How could I find this, find loveβnow, in this eleventh hourβand have to leave it? Was it fair that my soul and body couldn't reconcile? Was it fair that I had to love Melanie, too? Was it fair that Ian would suffer? He deserved happiness if anyone did. Itwasn't fair or right or evenβ¦sane. How could I do this to him?
βI love you,β I whispered.
βDon't say that like you're saying goodbye.β
But I had to. βI, the soul called Wanderer, love you, human Ian. And that will never change, no matter what I might become.β I worded it carefully, so that there would be no lie in my voice.
βIf I were a Dolphin or a Bear or a Flower, it wouldn't matter. I would always love you, always remember you. You will be my only partner.
β
β
Stephenie Meyer (The Host (The Host, #1))
β
She remembered one of her boyfriends asking, offhandedly, how many books she read in a year. "A few hundred," she said.
"How do you have the time?" he asked, gobsmacked.
She narrowed her eyes and considered the array of potential answers in front of her. Because I don't spend hours flipping through cable complaining there's nothing on? Because my entire Sunday is not eaten up with pre-game, in-game, and post-game talking heads? Because I do not spend every night drinking overpriced beer and engaging in dick-swinging contests with the other financirati? Because when I am waiting in line, at the gym, on the train, eating lunch, I am not complaining about the wait/staring into space/admiring myself in reflective surfaces? I am reading!
"I don't know," she said, shrugging.
β
β
Eleanor Brown (The Weird Sisters)
β
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: βI have to go to work β as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if Iβm going to do what I was born for β the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?β
So you were born to feel βniceβ? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Donβt you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And youβre not willing to do your job as a human being? Why arenβt you running to do what your nature demands?
You donβt love yourself enough. Or youβd love your nature too, and what it demands of you.
β
β
Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)
β
Ichigo: You got that? Huh?! I'm the rescuer, so you just SHUT UP!!
Rukia: Wha--wha'd you say? A rescuer isn't supposed to ignore the rescuee!
Ichigo: Yeah? And what kind of rescuee complains about the rescue!? Why don't you go sit in a corner and tremble in fear and cry out "Save me! Save me!" like you're supposed to?!
Rukia: I do not need saving, and I do NOT tremble!
β
β
Tite Kubo
β
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!
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
He who becomes the slave of habit,
who follows the same routes every day,
who never changes pace,
who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,
who does not speak and does not experience,
dies slowly.
He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones "itβs" rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,
dies slowly.
He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy,
who is unhappy at work,
who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,
to thus follow a dream,
those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives,
die slowly.
He who does not travel, who does not read,
who does not listen to music,
who does not find grace in himself,
she who does not find grace in herself,
dies slowly.
He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,
who does not allow himself to be helped,
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops,
dies slowly.
He or she who abandon a project before starting it, who fail to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know, he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know,
die slowly.
Let's try and avoid death in small doses,
reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.
Only a burning patience will lead
to the attainment of a splendid happiness.
β
β
Martha Medeiros
β
Confine yourself to observing and you always miss the point of your life. The object can be stated this way: Live the best life you can. Life is a game whose rules you learn if you leap into it and play it to the hilt. Otherwise, you are caught off balance, continually surprised by the shifting play. Non-players often whine and complain that luck always passes them by. They refuse to see that they can create some of their own luck.
Darwi Odrade - Chapterhouse: Dune
β
β
Frank Herbert (Chapterhouse: Dune (Dune #6))
β
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
32. I think I could turn and live with animals, they're so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition.
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins.
They do not make me sick discussiong their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth.
52. The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and loitering.
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world.
β
β
Walt Whitman (Song of Myself)
β
The unbornβ are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they donβt resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they donβt ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they donβt need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they donβt bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any work at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them, because they cease to be unborn. You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone. They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus, but actually dislike people who breathe. Prisoners? Immigrants? The sick? The poor? Widows? Orphans? All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible? They all get thrown under the bus for the unborn.
β
β
Dave Barnhart
β
And I want to play hide-and-seek and give you my clothes and tell you I like your shoes and sit on the steps while you take a bath and massage your neck and kiss your feet and hold your hand and go for a meal and not mind when you eat my food and meet you at Rudy's and talk about the day and type up your letters and carry your boxes and laugh at your paranoia and give you tapes you don't listen to and watch great films and watch terrible films and complain about the radio and take pictures of you when you're sleeping and get up to fetch you coffee and bagels and Danish and go to Florent and drink coffee at midnight and have you steal my cigarettes and never be able to find a match and tell you about the tv programme I saw the night before and take you to the eye hospital and not laugh at your jokes and want you in the morning but let you sleep for a while and kiss your back and stroke your skin and tell you how much I love your hair your eyes your lips your neck your breasts your arse your
and sit on the steps smoking till your neighbour comes home and sit on the steps smoking till you come home and worry when you're late and be amazed when you're early and give you sunflowers and go to your party and dance till I'm black and be sorry when I'm wrong and happy when you forgive me and look at your photos and wish I'd known you forever and hear your voice in my ear and feel your skin on my skin and get scared when you're angry and your eye has gone red and the other eye blue and your hair to the left and your face oriental and tell you you're gorgeous and hug you when you're anxious and hold you when you hurt and want you when I smell you and offend you when I touch you and whimper when I'm next to you and whimper when I'm not and dribble on your breast and smother you in the night and get cold when you take the blanket and hot when you don't and melt when you smile and dissolve when you laugh and not understand why you think I'm rejecting you when I'm not rejecting you and wonder how you could think I'd ever reject you and wonder who you are but accept you anyway and tell you about the tree angel enchanted forest boy who flew across the ocean because he loved you and write poems for you and wonder why you don't believe me and have a feeling so deep I can't find words for it and want to buy you a kitten I'd get jealous of because it would get more attention than me and keep you in bed when you have to go and cry like a baby when you finally do and get rid of the roaches and buy you presents you don't want and take them away again and ask you to marry me and you say no again but keep on asking because though you think I don't mean it I do always have from the first time I asked you and wander the city thinking it's empty without you and want what you want and think I'm losing myself but know I'm safe with you and tell you the worst of me and try to give you the best of me because you don't deserve any less and answer your questions when I'd rather not and tell you the truth when I really don't want to and try to be honest because I know you prefer it and think it's all over but hang on in for just ten more minutes before you throw me out of your life and forget who I am and try to get closer to you because it's beautiful learning to know you and well worth the effort and speak German to you badly and Hebrew to you worse and make love with you at three in the morning and somehow somehow somehow communicate some of the overwhelming undying overpowering unconditional all-encompassing heart-enriching mind-expanding on-going never-ending love I have for you.
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β
Sarah Kane (Crave)
β
We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved, and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed and beneath every sadness is the fear that there will not be enough time.
When we hesitate in being direct, we unknowingly slip something on, some added layer of protection that keeps us from feeling the world, and often that thin covering is the beginning of a loneliness which, if not put down, diminishes our chances of joy.
Itβs like wearing gloves every time we touch something, and then, forgetting we chose to put them on, we complain that nothing feels quite real. Our challenge each day is not to get dressed to face the world but to unglove ourselves so that the doorknob feels cold and the car handle feels wet and the kiss goodbye feels like the lips of another being, soft and unrepeatable.
β
β
Mark Nepo (The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have)
β
Did you miss me, Alina? Did you miss me when you were gone?"
"Every day," I said hoarsely.
"I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I'd catch myself walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I'd seen something I wanted to tell you about, or because I just wanted to hear your voice. And then I'd realize that you weren't there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I've risked my life for you. I've walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I'd do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don't tell me we don't belong together," he said fiercely. He was very close now, and my heart was suddenly hammering in my chest. "I'm sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now.
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Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1))
β
But the new rebel is a skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist. And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything. For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind; and the modern revolutionist doubts not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he denounces it. . . . As a politician, he will cry out that war is a waste of life, and then, as a philosopher, that all life is waste of time. A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself. . . . The man of this school goes first to a political meeting, where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts; then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting, where he proves that they practically are beasts. In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite skeptic, is always engaged in undermining his own mines. In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men. Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.
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β
G.K. Chesterton (Orthodoxy)
β
You saved the world," annabeth said.
"We saved the world."
"And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody."
"You don't sound disappointed," I noticed.
Annabeth shrugged. "Oh, I don't care."
"Uh-huh."
She raised an eyebrow. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"
"You'd probably kick my butt."
"You know I'd kick your butt."
I brushed the cake off my hands. "When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable . . . Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal."
Annabeth kept her eyes on the horizon. "Yeah?"
"Then up on Olympus," I said, "when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinkingβ"
"Oh, you so wanted to."
"Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thoughtβI didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because
things could always get better. And I was thinking . . ." My throat felt really dry.
"Anyone in particular?" Annabeth asked, her voice soft.
I looked over and saw that she was trying not to smile.
"You're laughing at me," I complained.
"I am not!"
"You are so not making this easy."
Then she laughed for real, and she put her hands around my neck. "I am never, ever going to make things easy for
you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it."
When she kissed me, I had the feeling my brain was melting right through my body. I could've stayed that way forever, except a voice behind us growled, "Well, it's about time!"
Suddenly the pavilion was filled with torchlight and campers. Clarisse led the way as the eavesdroppers charged and hoisted us both onto their shoulders.
"Oh, come on!" I complained. "Is there no privacy?"
"The lovebirds need to cool off!" Clarisse said with glee.
"The canoe lake!" Connor Stoll shouted. and they dumped us in the water.
β
β
Rick Riordan (The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5))
β
And then," Ress was saying, his boyish face set with fiendish delight, "just as he got her into bed, stark naked as the day he was born, her father walked in"- winces and groans came from the guards, even Chaol himself-"and he dragged him out of bed by his feet, took him down the hall, and dumped him down the stairs. He was shrieking like a pig the whole time."
Chaol leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. "You would be, too, if someone were dragging your naked carcass across the ice-cold floor." He smirked as Ress tried to deny it. Chaol seemed so comfortable with the men, his body relaxed, eyes alight. And they respected him, too-always glancing at him for approval, for confirmation, for support. As Celaena's chuckle faded, Chaol looked at her, his brows high.
"You're one to laugh. You moan about the cold floor more than anyone else than I know."
She straightened as the guards gave hesitant smiles. "If I recall correctly, you complain about every time I wipe the floor with you when we spar."
"Oho!" Ress cried, and Chaol's brows rose higher. Celaena gave him a grin.
"Dangerous words," Chaol said. "Do we need to go to the training hall to see if you can back them up?"
"Well, as long as your men don't object to seeing you knocked on your ass."
"We certainly do not object to that," Ress crowed. Chaol shot him a look, more amused than warning.
Ress quickly added, "Captain.
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Sarah J. Maas (Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2))
β
The only problem with her is that she is too perfect. She is bad in a way that entices, and good in a way that comforts. She is mischief but then she is the warmth of home. The dreams of the wild and dangerous but the memories of childhood and gladness. She is perfection. And when given something perfect, it is the nature of man to dedicate his mind to finding something wrong with it and then when he is able to find something wrong with it, he rejoices in his find, and sees only the flaw, becoming blind to everything else! And this is why man is never given anything that is perfect, because when given the imperfect and the ugly, man will dedicate his mind to finding what is good with the imperfect and upon finding one thing good with the extremely flawed, he will only see the one thing good, and no longer see everything that is ugly. And so....man complains to God for having less than what he wants... but this is the only thing that man can handle. Man cannot handle what is perfect. It is the nature of the mortal to rejoice over the one thing that he can proudly say that he found on his own, with no help from another, whether it be a shadow in a perfect diamond, or a faint beautiful reflection in an extremely dull mirror.
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β
C. JoyBell C.
β
I Choose Love...
No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.
I Choose Joy...
I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.
I Choose Peace...
I will live forgiven. I will forgive so I may live.
I Choose Patience...
I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I'll invite him to do so, Rather complain that the wait is to long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clenching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.
I Choose Kindness...
I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for that is how God has treated me.
I Choose Goodness...
I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I accuse. I choose goodness.
I Choose Faithfulness...
Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My friends will not question my word. And my family will not question my love.
I Choose Gentleness...
Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it only be in praise. If I clench my fist, may it only be in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.
I Choose Self-Control...
I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek His grace. And then when this day is done I will place my head on my pillow and rest.
β
β
Max Lucado
β
Die slowly
He who becomes the slave of habit,
who follows the same routes every day,
who never changes pace,
who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,
who does not speak and does not experience,
dies slowly.
He or she who shuns passion,
who prefers black on white,
dotting ones "itβs" rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile,
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,
dies slowly.
He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy,
who is unhappy at work,
who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,
to thus follow a dream,
those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives,
die slowly.
He who does not travel, who does not read,
who does not listen to music,
who does not find grace in himself,
she who does not find grace in herself,
dies slowly.
He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,
who does not allow himself to be helped,
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops,
dies slowly.
He or she who abandon a project before starting it, who fail to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know, he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know,
die slowly.
Let's try and avoid death in small doses,
reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.
Only a burning patience will lead
to the attainment of a splendid happiness.
β
β
Martha Medeiros
β
Though I obviously have no proof of this, the one aspect of life that seems clear to me is that good people do whatever they believe is the right thing to do. Being virtuous is hard, not easy. The idea of doing good things simply because you're good seems like a zero-sum game; I'm not even sure those actions would still qualify as 'good,' since they'd merely be a function of normal behavior. Regardless of what kind of god you believe in--a loving god, a vengeful god, a capricious god, a snooty beret-wearing French god, or whatever--one has to assume that you can't be penalized for doing the things you believe to be truly righteous and just. Certainly, this creates some pretty glaring problems: Hitler may have thought he was serving God. Stalin may have thought he was serving God (or something vaguely similar). I'm certain Osama bin Laden was positive he was serving God. It's not hard to fathom that all of those maniacs were certain that what they were doing was right. Meanwhile, I constantly do things that I know are wrong; they're not on the same scale as incinerating Jews or blowing up skyscrapers, but my motivations might be worse. I have looked directly into the eyes of a woman I loved and told her lies for no reason, except that those lies would allow me to continue having sex with another woman I cared about less. This act did not kill 20 million Russian peasants, but it might be more 'diabolical' in a literal sense. If I died and found out I was going to hell and Stalin was in heaven, I would note the irony, but I couldn't complain. I don't make the fucking rules.
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Chuck Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto)