#mer

10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and the remaining 80 percent can be moved in either direction. ↗

— Susan Sontag

#humanity #mankind #mercy #mankind

Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it'd find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it." [Q&A with Larry McCaffery, Review of Contemporary Fiction, Summer 1993, Vol. 13.2] ↗

— David Foster Wallace

#darkness #fiction #human #humanity #mankind

The Master said, “If your conduct is determined solely by considerations of profit you will arouse great resentment. ↗

— Confucius

#consumerism #greed #materialism #profit #greed

As sure as water's wet and days are long and a friend will always disappoint you in the end. ↗

— Neil Gaiman

#harsh-truth #neil-gaiman #reality #disappointment

The most important thing for everyone in Gringolandia is to have ambition and become 'somebody,' and frankly, I don't have the least ambition to become anybody. ↗

— Frida Kahlo

#america #fame #fame

The King had advertised the old magic tea set, but for some reason, no one wanted sugar teeth that could gouge their eyes out. ↗

— Heather Dixon

#magic #advertising

…sense of futility that comes from doing anything merely to prove to yourself that you can do it: having a child, climbing a mountain, making some sexual conquest, committing suicide. The marathon is a form of demonstrative suicide, suicide as advertising: it is running to show you are capable of getting every last drop of energy out of yourself, to prove it… to prove what? That you are capable of finishing. Graffiti carry the same message. They simply say: I’m so-and-so and I exist! They are free publicity for existence. Do we continually have to prove to ourselves that we exist? A strange sign of weakness, harbinger of a new fanaticism for a faceless performance, endlessly self-evident. ↗

— Jean Baudrillard

#jean-baudrillard #sociology #advertising

When Jesus was wrapping up his days on earth, he didn't tell us to go to church. He didn't tell us to engage in a spiritualized version of channel surfing, as we hop from place to place in search of just the right programming to entertain us. He told us to get out and actually do the stuff he'd already been doing, painting the hope of God's reign on the canvas of God's world. He told us we're artists. ↗

— Richard Dahlstrom

#church #god #hope #inspirational #jesus

We can have all the food and water we need, but without the sustenance of real story, real art — without the wisdom, insight, and “life instruction” it brings — we will stagnate as a culture and become a swamp where quality life can no longer be sustained. So share your gifts! Share your art! ↗

— Derek Rydall

#emergence #law-of-emergence #selfhelp #spirituality #art

From a House of vampires to a house of politicians,” he muttered as we walked to the front door. “Said the most political of vampires,” I reminded him, and got a growl in response. ↗

— Chloe Neill

#politicians