I almost made this thread entitled "A Quote," but my english teacher would've killed me. This is slightly paraphrased, because I read it last friday, and my memory isn't that amazing. My brother said to me, "Is it not a terrible prison where you cannot move from the place you stand?" I said to him, "I am now more free than you. The inability to move frees me from the obligation to act"(2). Xenocide, written by Orson Scott Card.
A bird in the hand results in a poo covered hand and an angry bird. Patrick, your genius is showing!-Spongebob Squarepants Where!?-Patrick Starfish The money is always right!-Eugene Krabs
BetrayerOfHope, You are absolutely right. This quote is very much a part of what I was (poorly) trying to express in this thread. Being imprisoned removes us from the responsibility to act and the repurcussions of those actions, aside from what comes naturally to us - survival. We have constructed this layer of materialism, obligation, social standards and responsibility between us and life. We used to work to survive - hunt, fish, gather, farm. Now our jobs are so far removed from survival, and we are far removed from our jobs. We have created entire industries from scratch that exist nowhere but within this layer, and people dedicate their entire lives to these industries. There is a quote from "Pulse" by Ani Difranco: "We lie in our beds and in our graves unable to save Ourselves from the quaint tragedies we invent"
I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand-- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep--while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?
"You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power - he's free again." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “If you own a rug, you own too much.” – Jack Kerouac “Freedom’s just another word for ‘nothing left to lose’.” – Kris Kristofferson ”Me and Bobby McGee” (later covered and made famous by Janis Joplin) “The things you own... end up owning you.” – Tyler Durden ”Fight Club” Carlin’s famous and brilliant “Stuff” rant… http://www.writers-free-reference.co...y/story085.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn1u6tzwRxA
I love that song Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! "If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them." - Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
"Nobody is more inferior than those who insist on being equal." "Free men aren't equal, and equal men aren't free." Kadark
No man insists on being equal, we insist on being treated equally, Kadark. "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world." -Buddha
Equal opportunity. You and I are certainly different people, yet you may be better at some things and I may be better at others. We should have equal opportunity to prove our worth and value.
Yes, and if for whatever reason you find yourself begging people like me for equality, then you truly are not equal. It's a very powerful quote. Kadark
Remember, I don't necessarily believe all of these quotes myself. Here's one such quote I would never use to guide my life, but I still have great respect for, in the sense that it is very thought-provoking: "I cannot see why man should not be just as cruel as nature". - Adolf Hitler Although I disagree with the quote, it's tough to show where it's wrong. Kadark
