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 Vaché.

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?

  • Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    2 days ago

    “Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source” - Iroh

    And

    “Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.” - Hitchhikers Guide

    Dont think about things too much. Just accept it, and change accordingly with a response

    • Cadenza@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      Also from H2G2, behold the majestic : " -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 far rather be happy than right any day.

      -And are you?

      -Ah. No. Well that’s where it all falls down, of course "

      I like it even better in the movie, Bill Nighy embodies this sentence perfectly.

  • pavodive@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    5 days ago

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

    Richard Feynman

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    5 days ago

    “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”

    I would be so far ahead of where I am right now if I had just decided on a course and committed instead of analyzing all the choices to death.

  • lattrommi@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    88
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 days ago

    Something my grandpa said, sometime around 2006-2007 I think.

    “The next world war, will be between the rich and and the poor, and the rich will win before the poor knows there’s a war.”

  • Kaliax@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    5 days 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.

  • tetris11@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    37
    ·
    7 days ago

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

  • imakeninjascry@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    ·
    6 days ago

    “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.

  • Mobiuthuselah@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    5 days ago

    Dad told me when I was young to “learn to drink your coffee black and cold and you’ll never be disappointed.”

    I don’t think he was just talking about coffee.

  • sproid@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    31
    ·
    7 days ago

    Feelings are like children, you can’t let them drive, but you can’t put them in the trunk.”

    But I feel that one has a ¨spiritual parent¨:

    “Educate a child so you don’t have to reprimand an adult.”

    and a ¨spiritual sibling¨:

    “If your only tool is a Hammer then every problem looks like a Nail.”

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    5 days ago

    "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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      5 days ago

      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
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        5 days ago

        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
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          5 days 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

          • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            5 days ago

            I think it’s a very interesting point. The whole concept of how fiction affects us is fascinating to me. Our idea of what it meant to be human used to come entirely from watching real people around us. Now we’re exposed to hundreds of fictional characters, and we get to know some of them better than we know our actual friends. Despite objectively knowing they’re fictional, they still influence our picture of what being a person means, because that’s just how our brains work. I think most modern people have the feeling their own lives aren’t as exciting or interesting or hilarious as they should be.

      • Allonzee@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 days 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.

  • NotLemming@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    5 days ago

    Men are scared that women will laugh at them , women are scared that men will kill them.

  • DeadNinja@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    41
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 days ago

    “Hurt people hurt people”

    Ever since I heard this, I became relatively more compassionate towards people, even if they piss me off.

    • MrAlternateTape@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 days ago

      It is very true, and how trauma is passed on from generation to generation. If you can skip a generation or escape the trauma you are essentially the stopping point of that trauma.

    • HaveMouseWillTravel@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      5 days ago

      This makes a song I’ve been listening to make more sense. “Gary” by Dave Hause. I was interpreting the line as “Hurt People. Hurt people…” Instead of “Hurt people hurt people”. Thanks!

      • Phunter@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        5 days ago

        Having untold wealth is actually not that good for you in a lot of cases. Generally, getting everything you want all the time is not good for your brain.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 days ago

        His father is a real piece of shit. Like evej when compared to Elon. But also he grew up in a society defined by a particular level of violence. Even though he was the privileged group there the violence was still present and there was violence to all, including the violence to teach the white children to be the oppressors.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        5 days ago

        I mean, he’s autistic in addition to being a bad person, so probably a large collection of people throughout his life who may or may not have even comprehended his side of the interaction. Comorbidity of autism with severe mental health problems is stupid high.

        That being said, the cycle would have died out long ago if some people weren’t dicks for no reason as well.

  • 18107@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    6 days ago

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