#superficiality

Once upon a time there were mass media, and they were wicked, of course, and there was a guilty party. Then there were the virtuous voices that accused the criminals. And Art (ah, what luck!) offered alternatives, for those who were not prisoners to the mass media. Well, it's all over. We have to start again from the beginning, asking one another what's going on. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#culture #mass-media #superficiality #art

Our lives are mere flashes of light in an infinitely empty universe. In 12 years of education the most important lesson I have learned is that what we see as “normal” living is truly a travesty of our potential. In a society so governed by superficiality, appearances, and petty economics, dreams are more real than anything anything in the “real world”. Refuse normalcy. Beauty is everywhere, love is endless, and joy bleeds from our everyday existence. Embrace it. I love all of you, all my friends, family, and community. I am ceaselessly grateful from the bottom of my heart for everyone. The only thing I can ask of you is to stay free of materialism. Remember that every day contains a universe of potential; exhaust it. Live and love so immensely that when death comes there is nothing left for him to take. Wealth is love, music, sports, learning, family and freedom. Above all, stay gold. ↗

— Dominic Owen Mallary

#appearances #beauty #death #education #existence

The externals are important but I'm not interested in superficiality. ↗

— Kyan Douglas

#i #important #interested #not interested #superficiality

You must renounce all superficiality, all convention, all vanity and delusion. ↗

— Gustav Mahler

#delusion #must #renounce #superficiality #vanity

Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts and books, however, still passes for wise. ↗

— Idries Shah

#donkeys #ego #evolution #intelligence #poses

I just can’t wait to get out of Sweet Valley,' Jessica explained. 'I feel like I’ve been dancing with the same ten cute guys my whole life. ↗

— Francine Pascal

#dancing #leaving-home #superficiality #sweet-valley #home

The midwest is full of these types of people. The nice enoughs but with a soul made of plastic. Easy to mold, easy to wipe down. The woman's entire music collection is formed from Pottery Barn compilations. Her books shelves are stocked with coffee table crap The Irish in America, Mizzou Football - A History in Pictures, We Remember 911, something dumb with kittens. I knew I needed a pliant friend for my plan, someone I could load up with awful stories about Nick. Someone who would become overly attached to me. Someone who would be easy to manipulate. Who wouldn't think to hard about anything I said because she felt privileged to hear it. ↗

— Gillian Flynn

#superficiality #music

Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century. ↗

— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

#mass-media #superficiality #media

Our enemy is by tradition our savior, in preventing us from superficiality. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#our #preventing #savior #superficiality #tradition

Elizabeth scowled, feeling like a nobody, a nothing. She felt like her entire self had been made worthless. She could change her interests, but she couldn’t change her looks. She’d never be six feet tall. She’d never look like a supermodel. ↗

— Francine Pascal

#superficiality #supermodels #sweet-valley #worthless #change