#able

So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation which, in the midst of civilization, artificially creates a hell on earth, and complicates with human fatality a destiny that is divine; so long as the three problems of the century - the degradation of man by the exploitation of his labour, the ruin of women by starvation and the atrophy of childhood by physical and spiritual night are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words and from a still broader point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, there should be a need for books such as this. ↗

— Victor Hugo

#les-miserables #preface #law

It frustrates and fascinates me that we'll never know for sure, that despite the best efforts of historians and scientists and poets, there are some things we'll just never know. What the first song sounded like. How it felt to see the first photograph. Who kissed the first kiss, and if it was any good. ↗

— Isaac Marion

#the-unknowable #effort

Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe. ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#every #every man #free #man #press

It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one. ↗

— Voltaire

#guilt #innocence #judgment #justice #mercy

Average. It was the worst, most disgusting word in the English language. Nothing meaningful or worthwhile ever came from that word. ↗

— Portia de Rossi

#portia-de-rossi #unbearable-lightness #english

People don't like the idea of consequences. They want to be able to live their life freely and do what they want to do without any consequences. And we know that's just not the way life is. ↗

— Charles Stanley

#any #consequences #freely #idea #just

The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment. ↗

— Elbert Hubbard

#being #criticism #endure #final #final proof

When we want to give expression to a dramatic situation in our lives, we tend to use metaphors of heaviness. We say that something has become a great burden to us. We either bear the burden or fail and go down with it, we struggle with it, win or lose. And Sabina - what had come over her? Nothing. She had left a man because she felt like leaving him. Had he persecuted her? Had he tried to take revenge on her? No. Her drama was a drama not of heaviness but of lightness. What fell to her lot was not the burden, but the unbearable lightness of being. ↗

— Milan Kundera

#winning

The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. ↗

— Carlos Castaneda

#either #emphasizes #happy #make #miserable

Nikki "Brandon's never hurt anyone. He's competely sweet and adorable." I choked a little on the sip of sparkling water I'k just swallowed. If Brandon was sweet and adorable, I was Satan's bride. ↗

— Meg Cabot

#satan #satan-s-bride #sweet #satan