#ge

There is no sort of wrong deed of which a man can bear the punishment alone: you can't isolate yourself, and say that the evil which is in you shall not spread. Men's lives are as thoroughly blended with each other as the air they breathe: evil spreads as necessarily as disease. I know, I feel the terrible extent of suffering this sin of Arthur's has caused to others; but so does every sin cause suffering to others besides those who commit it. An act of vengeance on your part against Arthur would simply be another evil added to those we are suffering under: you could not bear the punishment alone; you would entail the worst sorrows on every one who loves you. You would have committed an act of blind fury, that would leave all the present evils just as they were, and add worse evils to them. You may tell me that you meditate no fatal act of vengeance: but the feeling in your mind is what gives birth to such actions, and as long as you indulge it, as long as you do not see that to fix your mind on Arthur's punishment is revenge, and not justice, you are in danger of being led on to the commission of some great wrong. ↗

— Marian Evans

#george-eliot #marian-evans #love

Jenny’s admonition had the desired effect. Ned drew a deep breath and thrust his arm gingerly into the bag, his mouth puckered in distaste. The expression on his face flickered from queasy horror to confusion. From there, it flew headlong into outright bafflement. Shaking his head, he pulled his fist from the bag and turned his hand palm up. For a long moment, the two men stared at the offending lump. It was brightly colored. It was round. It was— “An orange?” Lord Blakely rubbed his forehead. “Not quite what I expected.” He scribbled another notation. “We live in enlightened times,” Jenny murmured. ↗

— Courtney Milan

#jenny #ned #orange #proof-by-seduction #men

As to the war with Japan, the President had already received my memorandum in general as to the possibility of getting a substantial unconditional surrender from Japan which I had written before leaving Washington and which he had approved. ↗

— Henry L. Stimson

#approved #before #general #getting #had

If Christ were born in Bethlehem a thousand times and not in thee thyself; then art thou lost eternally. ↗

— Angelus Silesius

#religion #self-knowledge #art

Music's a powerful thing. A song can change your mood. Make a memory. One song can change your whole life. ↗

— Kent Moran

#change

The power to change your life lies in the simplest of steps. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#inspirational #life #motivational #power #self-empowerment

Those right or left wing radicals are not our problem. Those devils that hurt us are long gone. As men and women, we find the only enemy (with power) we have is our choices to avoid love or cling to it with everything we got! ↗

— Matthew Akers

#love

Want wat is contact tussen mensen, tussen de mens en de wereld, tussen hem en zijn tijd, anders dan een substituut voor het contact dat geen vragen onbeantwoord laat? Dit boek gaat over de aard van dat verlangen. Over de voorstellingen die in plaats komen van wat we willen omarmen, maar wat we niet kunnen omarmen. En zo komt ook dit boek, net als ieder ander boek, in plaats van wat ik eigenlijk wilde zeggen, maar waar de woorden niet voor zijn. ↗

— Coen Simon

#verlangen #men

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. ↗

— Stephen R. Covey

#change

Als ik ergens vertel dat ik vegetariër ben, word ik bijna altijd gewezen op een inconsequentie of probeert men een zwak punt te ontdekken in een bewering die ik nooit heb gedaan. (Ik heb vaak het idee dat mijn vegetarische levenswijze voor zulke mensen belangrijker is dan voor mij.) ↗

— Jonathan Safran Foer

#men