#lot

The childish and savage taste of men and women for new patterns keeps how many shaking and squinting through kaleidoscopes that they may discover the particular figure which this generation requires to-day. The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical. Of two patterns which differ only by a few threads more or less of a particular color, the one will be sold readily, the other lie on the shelf, though it frequently happens that after the lapse of a season the latter becomes the most fashionable. Comparatively, tattooing is not the hideous custom which it is called. It is not barbarous merely because the printing is skin-deep and unalterable. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#clothing #conspicuous-consumption #fashion #fashion-industry #tattoo

You can never have too much money. ↗

— Jess C. Scott

#lottery #lottery-tickets #materialism #materialism-versus-spiritualism #money

J.R.R.Tolkien has confessed that about a third of the way through The Fellowship of the Ring, some ruffian named Strider confronted the hobbits in an inn, and Tolkien was in despair. He didn't know who Strider was, where the book was going, or what to write next. Strider turns out to be no lesser person than Aragorn, the unrecognized and uncrowned king of all the forces of good, whose restoration to rule is, along with the destruction of the evil ring, the engine that moves the plot of the whole massive trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. ↗

— Ansen Dibell

#character-building #fiction-writing #lord-of-the-rings #motivation #plot

Breyona didn’t have to force a laugh. “Fellowship? Who do you think you are? Freedo the hobbit?” “It’s Frodo,” he said over his shoulder. “And if I was a character from L.O.T.R., I’d obviously by Strider.” Shaking his head, he continued down the trail, mumbling obscenities. “What is L.O.T.R.?” Shiv asked. “Who is this Freedo?” Both questions brought exasperated sighs from Bronson. “It stands for Lord of the Rings. Don’t you ever see any movies?” “Weren’t they books before they were movies?” Em asked. “They wrote them after,” Bronson said. Breyona winked at Danny. “That Freedo was hot,” she said loud enough for Bronson to hear. “Even with those dumb-ass furry feet, he’s my kind of cute.” Bronson threw his hands up. “Frodo. It’s Frodo. And he’s not hot! ↗

— Eric Edstrom

#lotr #teens #movies

That will do extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough. Let the other young ladies have time to exhibit. ↗

— Jane Austen

#irony #modesty #musicality #showing-off #music

I just want to be someone, to mean something to anyone… ↗

— Charlotte Eriksson

#confused #empty-roads-broken-bottles #finding-yourself #lost #lyrics

We humans are naturally disposed to worship gods and heroes, to build our pantheons and valhallas. I would rather see that impulse directed into the adoration of daft singers, thicko footballers and air-headed screen actors than into the veneration of dogmatic zealots, fanatical preachers, militant politicians and rabid cultural commentators. ↗

— Stephen Fry

#religious-extremism #zealotry #nature

Anyone who says he knows God's intention is showing a lot of very human ego. ↗

— Michael Crichton

#religion #zealotry #religion

Pit race against race, religion against religion, prejudice against prejudice. Divide and conquer! We must not let that happen here. ↗

— Eleanor Roosevelt

#racism #unity #zealotry #religion

Conversion and zealotry, just like revelation and apostasy, are flip sides of the same coin, the currency of a political culture having more in common with religion than rational discourse. ↗

— Norman G. Finkelstein

#christopher-hitchens #conversion #politics #rationality #reason