#ability

The greatest difficulty with the world is not its ability to produce, but the unwillingness to share. ↗

— Roy L. Smith

#difficulty #greatest #produce #share #unwillingness

People's ability to forget what they do not want to know, to overlook what is before their eyes, was seldom put to the test better than in Germany at that time. ↗

— W. G. Sebald

#before #better #eyes #forget #germany

The consequences of an act affect the probability of it's occurring again. ↗

— B. F. Skinner

#affect #again #consequences #occurring #probability

Just because you’re grown up and then some doesn’t mean settling into the doldrums of predictability. Surprise people. Surprise yourself. (281) ↗

— Victoria Moran

#aging-gracefully #growing-older #predictability #age

For a patrimonial state to be stable over time, it is best ruled with consent, at least with consent from the largest minority, if not from the majority. Instinctive obedience must be the norm, otherwise too much effort needs to be put into suppressing disaffection for the regime's wider aims to be achievable. Consent is, however, not always easy to obtain. The collective view of most societies is rather conservative: in the main people prefer to see the social arrangements of their youth perpetuated into their old age; they prefer that things be done in the time-honoured way; they are suspicious of novelty and resistant to change. Thus when radical action must be taken, for whatever reason, a great burden falls on the ruler, the father-figure, who has to overcome this social inertia and persuade his subjects to follow his lead. In order that his will shall prevail, he needs to generate huge respect, preferably adulation, and if at all possible sheer awe among his people. ↗

— Paul Kriwaczek

#leadership #political-stability #age

My own mind is my own church ↗

— Thomas Paine

#mind #responsabilityibility #thomas-paine #age

The land of easy mathematics where he who works adds up and he who retires subtracts. ↗

— Núria Añó

#ageing #aging #aging-gracefully #economy #getting-older

We have to endure the discordance between imagination and fact. It is better to say, “I am suffering,” than to say, “This landscape is ugly. ↗

— Simone Weil

#courage #honesty #inspiration #status-quo #truth

Hidden away behind the closed doors of aristocratic and bourgeois privilege, concealed under those ultra-respectable masks of black frock coat and veil, the green glow of corruption flickers into sight, steadies, and spreads everywhere, fostered by Lorrain's horrified and complicitous gaze. This decadent detective is at one with the criminal he pursues, acknowledging openly that the representation of corruption is one of the most pleasurable forms that corruption can take. In this enterprise, art is the mask that both exposes and conceals culpability. ↗

— Jennifer Birkett

#corruption #crime #criminal #culpability #decadence

Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. ↗

— Shana McDonald

#national-security #patriotism #whistleblowers #courage