Even our grudges, revealing our grief over being betrayed, testify to our humanity; hatred shows us we are interconnected, and that we relate to the target of our resentment as a human being to another. Only indifference is cruel.
If you have a sense of deja vu, it is probably because you are doing something very similar to something you have done before.
Yesterday is fact. Tomorrow is fiction. Today is excitement or boredom.
Generally I like people, but I prefer the company of people who can focus. So I spent a lot of time on my own.
All the ancient kings had comedians as well as harems. Don't be frustrated, if people make fun of you. It is a sign of reverence, and accepting it is proof of benevolence. Also, try not to fret over women chasing after you, it also makes life easier.
Sophocles claimed that there is no deeper sadness than to know you are solely responsible for your misery. That is not true, but it is convenient for the mind to think so. That fact of the matter is that it is far worse to be powerless, and far more difficult for the mind to accept. It is, quite simply, better to be guilty than to be a victim. So assuming responsibility, even for victims of gross injustice, is a great temptation.
"Someone once asked me how I can believe in the good in man, when I know of all the evil people have done and continue to do every day. I told him that I believe what I see. Yes, I have experienced evil, but every day I see people respect each other and show genuine acts of kindness, friendship and love. It does not matter if it is the way traffic can only function, because pendlers fundamentally trust each other to keep some basic rules, or it is the way a mother shelters her baby from the wind, or the casual way young lovers will joke with each other, as they walk home hand in hand in the dusk."
Life is an uphill climb for justice. Thin air, frost bite and a great view are the only tangible rewards for participating.
If you must rebel, do it with all your might, do it with passion. At least that may amount to a noble tragedy. Nothing is more dreary than someone who simply complains.
What do you give a man who has everything? A problem he cannot solve.
"Three things, not two, are certain in life:
Death, taxes and the irony of fate.
Whatever happens, you can rest assured
it will involve profound irony."
Narcissism can be a very useful psychological disorder.
I was a terrible journalist, absolutely horrible. I insisted on changing the premises of our logic.
If I was to shrug, the world would not spin out of control. It would not even shrug in response. This leads me to conclude I am not Atlas.
Life should not be too easy. It is a tragedy of modernity that it removes people from the critical necessity of survival. This installs a perverse spirit in people. First of all, it affects the way they think and the way they talk. Indifference and lack of compassion characterize their speech, and this leads to pointless conflicts between even people with similar interests. That is the primary source of their loneliness.