#ode

The American Dream has become a death sentence of drudgery, consumerism, and fatalism: a garage sale where the best of the human spirit is bartered away for comfort, obedience and trinkets. It's unequivocally absurd. ↗

— Zoltan Istvan

#absurdism #american-dream #culture #modern-society #society

It is when death is rendered graphically, is televised so to speak, that you sense an eerie separation between your condition and yourself. A network of symbols has been introduced, an entire awesome technology wrested from the gods. It makes you feel like a stranger in your own dying. ↗

— Don DeLillo

#postmodernism #death

I attended a symposium, an event named after a fifth century (B.C.) Athenian drinking party in which nonnerds talked about love; alas, there was no drinking, and mercifully, nobody talked about love. ↗

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

#autism #modernity #nerd #nerdiness #nerds

El poder, el tiempo, la gravedad, el amor. Las fuerzas que de verdad mueven el cotarro son invisibles. ↗

— David Mitchell

#español #invisible #love #poder #power

Like it or not, we are trendsetters. Just as every fashion model ever to strut the runway, we affect the minds of others by what we wear. With usch power it's vital to question ourselves: 'Am I an example of Christ-centeredness? Or have I just gotten comfortable in the "Christian routine" and forgotten why I've chosen to live this way? ↗

— Hannah Farver

#influence #modesty #love

Cursed,” he once cried in a fit of rage. His temper has always been as restless and unpredictable as the sea itself. But his words had power behind them and I felt the effects instantly. Too late to take it back. ↗

— Jennifer Silverwood

#love-story #modern-myth #paranormal-romance #sea-stories #stay

I had not particularly liked the way in which he wrote about literature in Beginnings, and I was always on my guard if not outright hostile when any tincture of 'deconstruction' or 'postmodernism' was applied to my beloved canon of English writing, but when Edward talked about English literature and quoted from it, he passed the test that I always privately apply: Do you truly love this subject and could you bear to live for one moment if it was obliterated? ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#edward-said #literary-criticism #literature #postmodernism #love

It would take more than long-stemmed roses to change my view that you're a despicable cowardy custard and a disgrace to a proud family. Your ancestors fought in the Crusades and were often mentioned in despatches, and you cringe like a salted snail at the thought of appearing as Santa Claus before an audience of charming children who wouldn't hurt a fly. It's enough to make an aunt turn her face to the wall and give up the struggle. ↗

— P.G. Wodehouse

#humorous #wodehouse #change

My most cryptic, strange songs might be my most personal, but that isn't how people are going to receive them, because they don't know the code. ↗

— Frank Black

#code #going #how #know #might

They decided to establish a museum of modern art where works by contemporary artists would be shown. Mother was viewed as a very progressive person, and not everybody liked the paintings she bought. ↗

— David Rockefeller

#artists #bought #contemporary #decided #establish