#pin

Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord. ↗

— Ray Bradbury

#public-opinion #censorship

Looking back, I still can't believe how unprofessional the news media was. So much spin, so few hard facts. All those digestible sound bites from an army of 'experts' all contradicting one another, all trying to seem more 'shocking' and 'in-depth' than the last one. It was all so confusing, nobody seemed to know what to do. ↗

— Max Brooks

#media #news #spin #media

We are all doomed to seek our own happiness; we can't help ourselves. We are all, the cruel and the gentle alike, condemned to seeking that happiness in the dark. We use our need as the blind use a walking stick, to determine the safety of every forward step. ↗

— Jesse Browner

#safety

The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another. Avarice over-rates the difference between poverty and riches: ambition, that between a private and a public station: vain-glory, that between obscurity and extensive reputation. The person under the influence of any of those extravagant passions, is not only miserable in his actual situation, but is often disposed to disturb the peace of society, in order to arrive at that which he so foolishly admires. The slightest observation, however, might satisfy him, that, in all the ordinary situations of human life, a well-disposed mind may be equally calm, equally cheerful, and equally contented. Some of those situations may, no doubt, deserve to be preferred to others: but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardour which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice; or to corrupt the future tranquillity of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice. ↗

— Adam Smith

#ethics #happiness #equality

Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it. ↗

— Boethius

#misery #misery

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. ↗

— Guillaume Apollinaire

#good #happiness #happy #just #just be

Zakath stared at the floor. 'I suddenly feel very helpless,' he admitted, 'and I don't like the feeling. I've been rather effectively dethroned, you know. This morning I was the Emperor of the largest nation on earth; this afternoon, I'm going to be a vagabond.' You might find it refreshing,' Silk told him lightly. Shut up, Kheldar,' Zakath said almost absently. He looked back at Polgara. 'You know something rather peculiar?' What's that?' Even if I hadn't given my word, I'd still have to go to Kell. It's almost like a compulsion. I feel as if I'm being driven, and my driver is a blindfolded girl who's hardly more than a child.' There are rewards,' she told him. Such as what?' Who knows? Happiness, perhaps.' He laughed ironically. 'Happiness has never been a driving ambition of mine, Lady Polgara, not for a long time now.' You may have to accept it anyway,' She smiled. 'We aren't allowed to choose our rewards any more than we are our tasks. Those decisions are made for us. ↗

— David Eddings

#fantasy #happiness #ambition

JOY goes against the foundations of mathematics: it multiplies when we divide. ↗

— Paulo Coelho

#mathematics

Meeting you was not the first day of the rest of my life; it was the first day of the BEST of my life. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#in-love #life #love #relationship #experience

I knew you were the one when I realized your smile was my heaven, your laugh my favorite song, and your arms my home. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#happiness #heaven #home #love #smile