#super

Imagine a land where people are afraid of dragons. It is a reasonable fear: dragons possess a number of qualities that make being afraid of them a very commendable response. Things like their terrible size, their ability to spout fire, or to crack boulders into splinters with their massive talons. In fact, the only terrifying quality that dragons do not possess is that of existence. Now, the people of this land know about dragons because their leaders have warned them about them. They tell stories about cruel dragons with razor teeth and fiery breath. They recount legends of dragons hunting by night on silent wings. In short, the leaders make sure that the people believe in all the qualities of dragons, including that key quality of existence. And then they control the people — when they need to — with their fear of dragons. The people pay a dragon-slaying tax … everyone stays indoors after dark to avoid being snatched by swooping claws … and nobody ever strays out of bounds for fear of being eaten well and truly up. Perhaps somebody will wonder if dragons aren’t, after all, fictitious because — despite their size — nobody seems to have actually seen one. And so it is necessary from time to time to provide evidence: a burnt tree or two, a splintered rock, the mysterious absence of a villager. The population is controlled by the dragons in its collective mind. It’s contrived superstition, and it is possible because the people do not know enough about the way the world works to know that dragons do not exist. ↗

— David Whiteland

#dragons #existence #faith #ignorance #superstition

A lot of gay men are in delusion if they think they're super macho. ↗

— Scott Thompson

#gay #lot #macho #men #super

Utopianism is probably a necessary social device for generating the superhuman efforts without which no major revolution is achieved. ↗

— Eric Hobsbawm

#device #efforts #generating #major #necessary

One of the surest signs of the Philistine is his reverence for the superior tastes of those who put him down. ↗

— Pauline Kael

#him #his #philistine #put #reverence

You can't relate to a superhero, to a superman, but you can identify with a real man who in times of crisis draws forth some extraordinary quality from within himself and triumphs but only after a struggle. ↗

— Timothy Dalton

#after #crisis #draws #extraordinary #forth

'Gone With The Wind' is one of the all-time greats. Read Margaret Mitchell's book and watch the film again; it's a soap opera in all its glory. It is superb and memorable. ↗

— Timothy Dalton

#all-time #book #film #glory #gone

I'm developing a record company. I'm learning how to supervise music on a film. ↗

— Carson Daly

#developing #film #how #i #learning

There is something inherent in our democracy that tends to want to level. America is a little uncomfortable in the presence of someone who is distinctly superior in whatever way. ↗

— Carlisle Floyd

#democracy #distinctly #inherent #level #little

The accident was a horrible thing - but that horrible thing made Chris, at the end of his life, Superman. It's a happy irony if there is such a thing. I'm proud to have known him. ↗

— Morgan Freeman

#chris #end #happy #him #his

Ugliness is in a way superior to beauty because it lasts. ↗

— Serge Gainsbourg

#because #lasts #superior #ugliness #way