this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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Even better if you can provide your own understanding of its meaning.

Mine would be :

"Nothing kills a man as much as being forced to represent a country" (and err considering the context, I must stress it has nothing to do with the current US shitshow), by a WW1 soldier, illustrator and writer named Jacques VachΓ©.

For me it just means being forced into representing a group (national, of course, but maybe also social, racial, sexual, professional, any kind of group) or defining one's identity only by reference to a group is to be avoided at all costs.

Note : Its not the same, imho, as engaging in a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.

How about you?

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You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago. - Alan Watts

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 points 56 minutes ago* (last edited 56 minutes ago)

The worst decisions make the best stories. - Unknown

You can't leave the party if you can't find the door. Randall Jacobs, aka Uncle Bunky

obituary, worth reading

[–] pavodive@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 hours ago

I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned.

Richard Feynman

[–] DecentM@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 hours ago

"Nobody will take care of you if you don't take care of yourself"

Apply this to pushing back on contracts, double checking what you're asked to do, and putting yourself first, and you'll get a lot more respect in my experience. If you primarily put others first, your self will feel neglected. It doesn't mean you should not care for others, but that your highest priority should be yourself, and then others.

[–] Kaliax@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 3 hours ago

Never tie your identity to something that can be taken away. Re: job title, salary, perceived status. Your self perceived identity should have a much more stable foundation.

[–] squid_slime@lemm.ee 5 points 5 hours ago

"Trust no one - not even yourself"

My dad told me this while going through a divorce. He was also going through a criminal trial due to his deviance.

Its one thing that stuck with me and I wish it didn't.

Another one is from Lenin: " 'There Are Decades Where Nothing Happens' and 'Weeks Where Decades Happen' "

[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

"Who I am is where I stand.

Where I stand is where I fall."

-Steven Moffat, Doctor Who

I have a lot of darkness in my head due to my upbringing. I'll never get it out. That doesn't stop me from being a good man, because who you are and what you'll be remembered as isn't your internal struggle, its what you chose to stand for in practice.

[–] MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Props to you for actually attributing the quote to the writer and not the character. It's a pet peeve of mine when people take profound sounding quotes and attribute it to a fictional character that never existed, never had real thoughts or opinions of their own

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I agree it's good to credit a writer, but the attribution should also include the character so the quote has context. For example, I would want there to be a distinction between a comment I made in real life and a line I wrote for a psychotic character to say.

[–] MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.world 1 points 8 minutes ago

I hadn't thought of that before, and I can think of several characters who've said things I doubt the writers would want attributed to them. I just want to see quotes from fiction being clearly labeled as such, and not using the grandiose of a character's title to add weight to the quote.

For example when I see people quote Admiral William Adama on how when the military becomes the police, the people become the enemy of the state. That was Ron Moore writing a character for a show set in a post apocalyptic universe where the only survivors are hanging out on military ships, not a real world seasoned officer's opinion. Is it an interesting point worth discussing? Sure, but I'm not putting it in the same category of 5-Star General Dwight Eisenhower's warnings about the military industrial complex

[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Thank you! I try to, even though at the end of the day the best you can do is the show runner that signed off on it, as you'll never really know who invented it in the writer's room.

[–] Arehandoro@lemmy.ml 7 points 8 hours ago

"You know, sweetheart, if there's one thing I've learned, it's this: nobody knows what's gonna happen at the end of the line, so you might as well enjoy the trip." Manny Calavera

[–] 18107@aussie.zone 9 points 9 hours ago

You don't need to do everything every day. Some days, surviving is enough.

[–] PillBugTheGreat@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago

No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 8 hours ago

"republicans are pussies" - me. thanks

[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 9 points 12 hours ago

It's not a party if it happens every night

[–] xelar@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

It's all so tiresome - Lao Yang in the 2011 documentary Empire of Dust

Life's tough for everyone

-Grandpa

[–] antrosapien@lemmy.ml 8 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee? But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.

~ Camus

[–] vipaal@aussie.zone 9 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

The pleasure of being understood is underrated

  • Simon Baker portraying Patrick Jane in The Mentalist
[–] prex@aussie.zone 1 points 10 hours ago

Oof. I felt that.

[–] agnomeunknown@lemmy.ml 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Not so much a quote as a poem, but it's brief so here's the whole thing:

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man, It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don't have any kids yourself.

  • "This Be the Verse" by Philip Larkin

As for what it means to me, I think it speaks for itself. It's bleak and devastating, yet beautiful. I love the elegance and simplicity of the writing. It's the only poem I have memorized because it's so aesthetically pleasing and emotionally resonant. It has stuck with me since I first heard it over 10 years ago.

[–] needthosepylons@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

It's beautiful and I can understand why it sticks.. Thanks for letting us know!!

[–] Nikki@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

"be someones angel"

quote from this little video that really stuck with me, as silly as it might sound

https://youtu.be/Ib2bt28in1c

[–] needthosepylons@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago

I suppose it's less about the quote origin and more about what we make it to mean :)

[–] wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 5 points 15 hours ago

Perhaps today is a good day to die. Prepare for ramming speed!

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 7 points 16 hours ago

We have liberated Europe from fascism, but they will never forgive us for it

  • Marshal Georgy Zhukov
[–] currycourier@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago

"Someone once said that love is the best medicine. He was wrong, though; its crack." Source Unknown

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Hitchens on the death of Jerry Falwell: "If they gave his corpse an enema, they could bury him in a matchbox."

[–] imakeninjascry@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." -A clump of talking stars in Futurama I look at it like being a good custodian or someone who takes pride in the smallest details of their work, regardless of whether or not you receive recognition for them. Most people don't notice the effort being put in when things are running smoothly. The work of the people behind the scenes is directly responsible for successes in the spotlight.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 6 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

That's a loose quote from the Tao te ching.

[–] imakeninjascry@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago

Interesting. Something new to look up!

[–] temporal_spider@lemm.ee 8 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

"Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for bad trouble." Peter Clemenza, The Godfather

[–] needthosepylons@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago

Recently, I learned about a historical quote, from French PM Daladier on his way back from Munich where he knew he gave everything to Hitler.

He got out his plane, expecting to be lynched or thrown oranges at, and people, when he realized people were praising him as a herald of "peace", let out this magnificent "Ah.. what a bunch of idiots".

[–] needthosepylons@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Oh and there's also this one ftom H2G2 :

Slartibartfast: Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day. Arthur Dent: And are you? Slartibartfast: Ah, no. [laughs, snorts] Slartibartfast: Well, that's where it all falls down, of course

[–] prex@aussie.zone 2 points 9 hours ago

Douglas Adams was a gift to humanity.
"See first, think later, then test. But always see first" is a good one.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 32 points 1 day ago

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country." ~ Kurt Vonnegut

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