#bse

For what the horse does under compulsion, as Simon also observes, is done without understanding; and there is no beauty in it either, any more than if one should whip and spur a dancer. ↗

— Xenophon

#any #beauty #compulsion #dancer #does

Observing humans and observing oneself yields a clear-minded starting point for literature. ↗

— Gao Xingjian

#literature #observing #oneself #point #starting

We are determined that our nation shall cease to be a burden on other countries but shall contribute positively to world prosperity, while observing fully the fair trade practices in international commerce. ↗

— Shigeru Yoshida

#cease #commerce #contribute #countries #determined

Only the human mind, unspoiled by the officially structured education and the authority opinions on different subjects, can produce an original thinker. Hail to morons! ↗

— Boris Zubry

#education

The first grave. Now we're getting someplace. Houses and children and graves, that's home, Tom. Those are the things that hold a man down. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#insperational #observational #home

I don't believe outstandingly beautiful and charismatic women create obsession in what would otherwise be normal men, but rather they attract the weirdos and the stalkers; flames in the darkness that these disturbing people inhabit, unwittingly drawing them closer until they extinguish the very flame they were drawn to. ↗

— Rosamund Lupton

#stalker #weirdos #beauty

Politics is the business of getting power and privilege without possessing merit. A politician is anyone who asks individuals to surrender part of their liberty - their power and privilege - to State, Masses, Mankind, Planet Earth, or whatever. This state, those masses, that mankind, and the planet will then be run by . . . politicians. ↗

— P.J. O'Rourke

#politics-observation #business

I don't want to become obsessed with work or money or change any of the values I have now. I don't have reason to believe that I ever should change, as much as I have this feeling of urgency to pursue my dreams... ↗

— Tanya Kimberly Orme

#obsessed #tanya-orme #values #change

Individuals are prey to institutions in modern mass societies... Individuals can struggle mightily against institutionalized conditions, but without changing the institutions themselves, those efforts will be largely for naught, since people tire, lose focus, forget, and, eventually, give up their ghosts, while institutions share no such limitations. ↗

— Brian Awehali

#politics #politics-observation #power #radicalism #change

Why should I blame her that she filled my days With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, Or hurled the little streets upon the great, Had they but courage equal to desire? What could have made her peaceful with a mind That nobleness made simple as a fire, With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind That is not natural in an age like this Being high and solitary and most stern? Why, what could she have done, being what she is? Was there another Troy for her to burn? ↗

— W.B. Yeats

#love #obsession #troy #age