#ki

I have only to contemplate myself; man comes from nothing, passes through time, and disappears forever in the bosom of God. He is seen but for a moment wandering on the verge of two abysses, and then is lost. If man were wholly ignorant of himself he would have no poetry in him, for one cannot describe what one does not conceive. If he saw himself clearly, his imagination would remain idle and would have nothing to add to the picture. But the nature of man is sufficiently revealed for him to know something of himself and sufficiently veiled to leave much impenetrable darkness, a darkness in which he ever gropes, forever in vain, trying to understand himself. ↗

— Alexis de Tocqueville

#humankind #inspirational #poetry #profound #understanding

They spoke politely and with deference to the adults, whereas it went against my nature not to speak plainly. To many people speaking plainly is the same as speaking rudely. Whereas to me, if one was direct, it saved time and misunderstanding. ↗

— Theresa Breslin

#etiquette #matteo #speaking #nature

In the first place, you can't see anything from a car. ↗

— Ed Abbey

#close #life #looking #nature #noticing

Hiking and pedophilia are nature’s two great temptations. It is such a shame that conventional society discourages hiking so much. By itself, pedophilia is a sport with a trophy but no training. ↗

— Bauvard

#hiking #humor #pedophilia #nature

There is so much of gratitude or vanity in almost every attachment, that it is not safe to leave any to itself. We can all BEGIN freely--a slight preference is natural enough; but there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement. In nine cases out of ten a women had better show MORE affection than she feels. Bingley likes your sister undoubtedly; but he may never do more than like her, if she does not help him on. ↗

— Jane Austen

#love

legal investigation. As Clinton noted, “My goal in this deposition was to be truthful, but not particularly helpful. ↗

— Steven Pinker

#nature

I took a few steps toward the kitchen window although I'd already realized I couldn't look through the kitchen window because, as already mentioned, it's covered with filth from top to bottom. Austrian kitchen windows are all totally filthy and we can't look through them and naturally it's to our greatest advantage, I thought, not to be able to look through them because then we find ourselves staring into the mouth of catastrophe, into the chaos of Austrian kitchen filth. ↗

— Thomas Bernhard

#filth #nature

...loading your brain with subliminal messages.... How loathsome to turn a sadistic murder into entertainment [in the newspaper] -- and yet how hard not to read about it. What dark comedy to realize that you are scanning for descriptions of torture as you disapprove. Which of course only makes it more entertaining. "But naturally I was hoping they'd report something grisly," you say to your friends, who chuckle lighthearted acknowledgment of hypocrisy. ↗

— Mary Gaitskill

#gaitskill #nature

Kids. Pain in the ass. Don't know why I ever made them. Hell on relationships. ↗

— Karen Marie Moning

#karen-marie-moning

I'm going to stab you through the heart with the same blade... not for the good of the world... but for myself. ↗

— Kaori Yuki

#kaori #manga #yuki #manga