"I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me."

Charles Dickens
Great Expectations

On 2025-10-16 09:42:18 Motocat said:
"I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me."

Charles Dickens
Great Expectations

YES!
Love it.

The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me." --- Ayn Rand.

On 2025-10-04 16:52:45 J_J said:
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven

And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on

Your head is humming, and it won't go, in case you don't know
The piper's calling you to join him

If you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one, and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll

Robert Plant / James Patrick (Stairway to heaven, Led Zeplin)

The greatest Rock song ever!
It's so great that you will not be allowed to strum it on a guitar at a guitar shop in the US!

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

Friedrich Nietzsche

"If you cannot tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people"

Virginia Woolf

"When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser"
Attributed to Socrates

There was a boy
A very strange, enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far
Very far, over land and sea
A little shy and sad of eye
But very wise was he
And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things
Fools and kings, this he said to me:

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return"

Songwriter: Eden Ahbez
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For me these lyrics capture the meaning of life. Deep down inside of everyone is a desire to love and and be loved.

However, it's often associated with pain. One person endured a crucifixion because of his love. He (an many others) taught forgiveness. Not as a selfish act to protect or heal yourself (commonly watered down by others). But as a means to pierce the veil of fear, and experience the divine, the source of love.

"The biggest problem is not to let people accept new ideas, but to let them forget the old ones."

John Maynard Keynes

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us