#jo

Sluggish and sedentary peoples, such as the Ancient Egyptians-- with their concept of an afterlife journey through the Field of Reeds-- project on to the next world the journeys they failed to make in this one. ↗

— Bruce Chatwin

#journey #travel #afterlife

Our lives are mere flashes of light in an infinitely empty universe. In 12 years of education the most important lesson I have learned is that what we see as “normal” living is truly a travesty of our potential. In a society so governed by superficiality, appearances, and petty economics, dreams are more real than anything anything in the “real world”. Refuse normalcy. Beauty is everywhere, love is endless, and joy bleeds from our everyday existence. Embrace it. I love all of you, all my friends, family, and community. I am ceaselessly grateful from the bottom of my heart for everyone. The only thing I can ask of you is to stay free of materialism. Remember that every day contains a universe of potential; exhaust it. Live and love so immensely that when death comes there is nothing left for him to take. Wealth is love, music, sports, learning, family and freedom. Above all, stay gold. ↗

— Dominic Owen Mallary

#appearances #beauty #death #education #existence

There are memories for both of us, of course, but I've learned that memories can have a physical, almost living presence, and in this, Savannah and I are different as well.If hers are stars in the nighttime sky, mine are the haunted empty spaces in beetween... ↗

— Nicholas Sparks

#physics

Ambition is all very well, my lad, but you must cloak it. ↗

— Jonathan Stroud

#amulet-of-samarkand #bartimaeus-trilogy #jonathan-stroud #ambition

Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold. And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves. Some of them hated the mathematics that drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshiped the mathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and from feeling. If a bank or a finance company owned the land, the owner man said, The Bank - or the Company - needs - wants - insists - must have - as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them. These last would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time. Some of the owner men were a little proud to be slaves to such cold and powerful masters. The owner men sat in the cars and explained. You know the land is poor. You've scrabbled at it long enough, God knows. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#john-steinbeck #land #the-grapes-of-wrath #men

What about your servant? Did he see anything?" [...]As soon as the crisis was over, Billy had fled into his necklace and I hadn't seen him since. I gave him little poke, just for the hell of it, and got back the metaphysical version of the finger. "Billy doesn't know anything," I translated. "Are you certain?" Tell him to suck my balls! "Pretty certain. ↗

— Karen Chance

#cassie #pritkin #the-finger #metaphysics

The more one suffered and lived, the more one had known of joy and grief, the deeper the response must be if an artist were great enough to summon it. ↗

— Rachel Field

#artists #grief #joy #life #life-and-living

He wanted her to experience all the glorious cheese of life. ↗

— Christopher Moore

#experience

Lesson #456 of high school life: Never, EVER trust an alarm clock. ↗

— Heather Brewer

#journalism

You're miserable, edgy and tired. You're in the perfect mood for journalism. ↗

— Warren Ellis

#journalism #miserable #mood #perfect #tired