#simi

For better or worse, pessimism without compromise lacks public appeal. In all, the few who have gone to the pains of arguing for a sullen appraisal of life might as well never have been born. As history confirms, people will change their minds about almost anything, from which god they worship to how they style their hair. But when it comes to existential judgments, human beings in general have a unfalteringly good opinion of themselves and their condition in this world and are steadfastly confident they are not a collection of self-conscious nothings ↗

— Thomas Ligotti

#change

Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on. ↗

— Terry Pratchett

#simile #communication

One couple described the effects as being, “dated hard, married quick, and then ignored.” They got into church alright, but the church never got into them; they were let in easily enough, but they never felt they were counted on. ↗

— Sue Mallory

#dating

He was going to die soon, you knew when you saw those eyes. There was no sign of life in his flesh, just the barest traces of what had once been a life. His body was like a dilapidated old house from which all furniture and fixtures have been removed and which awaited now only its final demolition. ↗

— Haruki Murakami

#dying #human #simile #death

Miracles are like pimples, because once you start looking for them you find more than you ever dreamed you'd see. ↗

— Lemony Snicket

#pimples #simile #dreams

School prepares you for the real world... which also bites. ↗

— Jim Benton

#pessimism #school #education

He wastes his time over his writing, trying to accomplish what geniuses and rare men with college educations sometimes accomplish. ↗

— Jack London

#intelligence #pessimism #real #writers #writing

Once again she would arrive at a foreign place. Once again be the newcomer, an outsider, the one who did not belong. She knew from experience that she would quickly have to ingratiate herself with her new masters to avoid being rejected or, in more dire cases, punished. Then there would be the phase where she would have to sharpen her senses in order to see and hear as acutely as possible so that she could assimilate quickly all the new customs and the words most frequently used by the group she was to become a part of--so that finally, she would be judged on her own merits. ↗

— Laura Esquivel

#exclusion #immigration #judgement #punishment #slavery

Sometimes it's like I'm living my life waiting for more bad news. ↗

— Evan Kuhlman

#pessimistic #life

Optimism is denial for chumps with no life experience". "What's pessimism?" I said. "Religion without God. ↗

— Jonathan Kellerman

#pessimism #experience