#ow

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ↗

— Kahlil Gibran

#sorrow #sorrow

War is not heroic. War is not exhilarating. War is full of despair. It is dark. It is dreadful. It is a thing of sorrow and gloom. That is why people fear war. That is why people choose to avoid it. ~Izuru Kira ↗

— Tite Kubo

#sorrow

She knew that was not an honest prayer, and she did not linger over it. The right prayer would have been, Lord . . . I am miserable and bitter at heart, and old fears are rising up in me so that everything I do makes everything worse. ↗

— Marilynne Robinson

#heartache #prayer #sorrow #sorrow

You know Americans...Self-improvement. No matter who or what we are, we're always working on ways to become somebody else. ↗

— Alan Brown

#americans #audrey-hepburn #improvement #japan #japanese

I have learned that I, we, are a dollar-a-day people (which is terrible, they say, because a cow in Japan is worth $9 a day). This means that a Japanese cow would be a middle class Kenyan... a $9-a-day cow from Japan could very well head a humanitarian NGO in Kenya. Massages are very cheap in Nairobi, so the cow would be comfortable. ↗

— Binyavanga Wainaina

#cows #development #irony #kenya #ngo

My brother is undoubtedly arrogant," Tyrion Lannister replied. "My father is the soul of avarice, and my sweet sister Cersei lusts for power with every waking breath. I, however, am innocent as a little lamb. Shall I bleat for you? ↗

— George R.R. Martin

#avarice #innocence #power #lust

the fact that every people feel itself threatened by the others gives the state it's definite unifying powers; it depends upon the instinct of self-preservation of society itself; the latent external crisis enables it to get the upper hand in internal crises ↗

— Martin Buber

#politics #power #state #anarchy

Thousands of years ago the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burnt at the stake he'd taught his brothers to light, but he left them a gift they had not conceived and he lifted darkness from the face of the Earth. ↗

— Ayn Rand

#integrity #objectivism #integrity

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader -- not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon. ↗

— E.L. Doctorow

#rain

You're Mac," he says. "And I'm Jericho. And nothing else matters. Never will. You exsist in a place that is beyond all rules for me. Do you understand that?" "I do. ↗

— Karen Marie Moning

#jzb #shadowfever #mac