#com

Forget it,” I said. “Opie could be bloodthirsty, rabid, radioactive, and selling life insurance and he’d still be preferable to listening to the two of you. ↗

— John Zakour

#sci-fi #sci-fi-humour-comedy #life

Why would anyone want to listen to you if he felt you had not first listened to him? ↗

— Dr. Xavier Amador

#communication

It is always easier to destroy a complex system than to selectively alter it. ↗

— Roby James

#complex #systems #change

There are two different ways of being a person. One of these precedes the change of heart, and the other follows it. The first is fearful, anxious, resentful, and alienated from other people; the second, open resonant with others, buoyant, straightforward, and secure. To the extent that we live the second way, we care about others. We do not see them merely in terms of our own interests, as helping or hindering us. They are real to us; we are as sensitive to their feelings and hopes and needs as we are to our own. On the other hand, when we feel alienated, we engross ourselves in our own agenda. We pursue wealth, power, personal perfection, pleasure, distraction, or some other protection from emotional pain. We divide people into two categories-- those who will help us in our self-seeking projects and those who won't, and the latter we fear or hate as our rivals or enemies. We use people or abuse them. We look at people guardedly and stand ready to resent them whenever they cross us. Their own hopes and needs aren't real to us. ↗

— C. Terry Warner

#change

Right words are born in courage, which results from our struggle to make sense of our various predicaments. Cheer is what words are "trying to tell us/... It's native to the words/and what they want us always to know/even when it seems quite impossible to do. ↗

— William Meredith

#poetry #speech #communication

How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine." The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, began screaming "Off with her head! Off with--" "Nonsense!" said Alice, very loudly and decidedly, and the Queen was silent. ↗

— Lewis Carroll

#to-get-the-best-of #business

I have never left you. And I never told you you couldn't go outside. Take your children and go outside and play and shop. Resume your life. What are you afraid of? ↗

— Kim De Blecourt

#international-adoption #orphans #until-we-all-come-home #courage

The moment any of them gave up on the difficult work of living with their neighbors--and all of the compromise, frustration, and delay that inevitably entailed--they risked losing everything. ↗

— Nathaniel Philbrick

#compromise #neighbors #working-together #courage

But some things did not change... Courage, for instance. Dedication to a cause. Comradeship. When they were strong and pure, when they came from deep in the bone, those qualities could hold fast against all odds. ↗

— Juliet Marillier

#courage #dedication #inspirational #change

Fear is contagious. Fortunately, so is courage. Learning to become fearless will touch everyone around you, and best of all, you'll find it's a gift that keeps on giving. ↗

— Michelle Aguilar

#contagious #courage #fear #gift #courage