#uf

I knew Denver was sincere when he told me that he would not want to trade places with me for even one day. His convictions became clear to me when I laid my key ring on the table between us at one of our earlier meetings for coffee. Denver smiled a bit and sidled up to a cautious question. 'I know it ain't none of my business, but does you own somethin' that each one of those keys fits?' I glanced at the keys; there were about ten of them. 'I suppose,' I replied, not really ever having thought about it. 'Are you sure you own them, or does they own you?' That wisdom stuck to my brain like duct tape. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced we'd enjoy life a whole lot more if we owned a whole lot less. ↗

— Ron Hall

#business

There would be no more offerings. Not this day. Not any day. Humankind had suffered enough for its love of gods, its long search for God. He thought of the many centuries in which his people, the Jews, had negotiated with God, complaining, bickering, decrying the unfairness of things but always - always - returning to obedience at whatever the cost. Generations dying in the ovens of hatred. Future generations scarred by the cold fires of radiation and renewed hatred. ↗

— Dan Simmons

#hatred #obedience #religion #searching #suffering

In the end, even the “yes” to love is a source of suffering, because love always requires expropriations of my “I”, in which I allow myself to be pruned and wounded. Love simply cannot exist without this painful renunciation of myself, for otherwise it becomes pure selfishness and thereby ceases to be love. ↗

— Pope Benedict XVI

#selfishness #suffering #love

The business of procuring the necessities of life has been shifted from the wood lot, the garden, the kitchen and the family to the factory and the large-scale enterprise. In our case, we moved our center back to the land. ↗

— Helen Nearing

#self-sufficiency #business

Buffett's uncommon urge to chronicle made him a unique character in American life, not only a great capitalist but the Great Explainer of American capitalism. He taught a generation how to think about business, and he showed that securities were not just tokens like the Monopoly flatiron, and that investing need not be a game of chance. It was also a logical, commonsensical enterprise, like the tangible businesses beneath. He stripped Wall Street of its mystery and rejoined it to Main Street -- a mythical or disappearing place, perhaps, but one that is comprehensible to the ordinary American. ↗

— Roger Lowenstein

#business #capitalism #capitalist #character #warren-buffett

If you have the courage to love, then you should have the courage to suffer, too. ↗

— E.H. Majaw

#love #suffering #courage

I know I get you to myself all the time, but… but….” There was an uneven touch in Quentin’s hair, and Quentin almost stopped breathing. “You’re the only thing I’ve wanted. I wanted my degree, but, you know, that came sort of easy. I wanted a business, and we’ve done that. And the whole time… hell, even before we had our first class together… before our first study group, before we got dorm assignments… all I wanted was you. ↗

— Amy Lane

#business

To know the Cross is not merely to know our own sufferings. For the Cross is the sign of salvation, and no man is saved by his own sufferings. To know the Cross is to know that we are saved by the sufferings of Christ; more, it is to know the love of Christ Who underwent suffering and death in order to save us. It is, then, to know Christ. ↗

— Thomas Merton

#suffering #the-cross #death

As long as you think that the cause of your problem is “out there”—as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering—the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you’re suffering in paradise. ↗

— Byron Katie

#thinking #victim #change

Marriage is a fine institution, but I'm not ready for an institution. ↗

— Mae West

#double-entendre #empowerment #freedom #independence #institutions