#mic

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. ↗

— Robert A. Heinlein

#philosophy #politics #thermodynamics #free

They rode for a while in silence, a tiny island in the smoky stream of marching men. Then Lee said slowly, in a strange, soft, slow tone of voice, "Soldiering has one great trap." Longstreet turned to see his face. Lee was riding slowly ahead, without expression. He spoke in that same slow voice. "To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love. This is...a very hard thing to do. No other profession requires it. That is one reason why there are so very few good officers. Although there are many good men." Lee rarely lectured. Longstreet sensed a message beyond it. He waited. Lee said, "We don't fear our own deaths, you and I." He smiled slightly, then glanced away. "We protect ourselves out of military necessity, not do not protect yourself enough and must give thought to it. I need you. But the point is, we are afraid to die. We are prepared for our own deaths, and for the deaths of comrades. We learn that at the Point. But I have seen this happen: we are not prepared for as many deaths as we have to face, inevitably as the war goes on. There comes a time..." He paused. He had been gazing straight ahead, away from Longstreet. Now, black-eyed, he turned back, glanced once quickly into Longstreet's eyes, then looked away. "We are never prepared for so many to die. So you understand? No one is. We expect some chosen few. We expect an occasional empty chair, a toast to dear departed comrades. Victory celebrations for most of us, a hallowed death for a few. But the war goes on. And the men die. The price gets ever higher. Some officers...can pay no longer. We are prepared to lose some of us." He paused again. "But never ALL of us. Surely not all of us. But...that is the trap. You can hold nothing back when you attack. You must commit yourself totally. And yet ,if they all die, a man must ask himself, will it have been worth it? ↗

— Michael Shaara

#the-killer-angels #death

Nonetheless, many people, and especially intellectuals, passionately loathe capitalism. As they see it, this ghastly mode of society’s economic organization has brought about nothing but mischief and misery. Men were once happy and prosperous in the good old days preceding the Industrial Revolution. Now under capitalism the immense majority are starving paupers ruthlessly exploited by rugged individualists. For these scoundrels nothing counts but their moneyed interests. They do not produce good and really useful things, but only what will yield the highest profits. They poison bodies with alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and souls and minds with tabloids, lascivious books and silly moving pictures. The “ideological superstructure” of capitalism is a literature of decay and degradation, the burlesque show and the art of striptease, the Hollywood pictures and the detective stories. ↗

— Ludwig von Mises

#economics #greed #vice #art

When I glanced at the chair, it started to shake. I’d like to think it was scared of me, but I rarely invoked that response in living things, let alone inanimate objects. ↗

— Kelley Armstrong

#kelley-armstrong #stolen #responsibility

Living is the challenge. Not dying. Dying is so easy. Sometimes it only takes ten seconds to die. But living? That can take you eighty years and you do something in that time. ↗

— Melina Marchetta

#michael #challenge

Hell, if someome wrote a book about you, well, it'd sell a million copies the day it was released. And if someone else was clever enough to write a parody - you know, to privide som comic relief during these extremely difficult economic times - that would probably be an even bigger seller, or at least it shoud be. So, just come clean with me, Ed. Your secret's safe with me, and whoever reads my internet blog. You...are...a...vampire! ↗

— Stephen Jenner

#parody #stella-crow #twilight #twilite #internet

I am constantly torn between killing myself and killing everyone around me. ↗

— David Levithan

#suicide #kill

Hey, if you don't want to tell me, don't. But I can tell when you lie." Ok, that was super creepy. "You can?" He smiled grimly down at the dirty dishwater. "Nope. But see? You fell for it anyway. Careful, or I'll read your mind with my incredible vampire superpowers. ↗

— Rachel Caine

#michael-glass #ghost

I'm not very good with anything physical...' she began as they turned down a hallway she had never seen. He flashed her a grin as they walked. 'I find that hard to believe.' She caught the innuendo in his voice and felt a blush creep to her cheeks. 'You know what I mean. ↗

— Michelle Zink

#griffin #griffin-channing #helen #helen-cartwright #michelle-zink

I think I should learn to jump on my own soon, don't you?' 'And deprive myself of the opportunity to be near you?' His voice was husky in her ear, his breath tickling the tender skin of her neck. 'That seems foolish on my part, but if you'd like to learn, I'll teach you.' She nodded, her voice stuck in her throat. 'Very well,' he said. 'But not tonight. Tonight you'll stay with me. ↗

— Michelle Zink

#griffin #griffin-channing #helen #helen-cartwright #michelle-zink