creation
“That’s creation out there, little green apples and infectious disease.” - Don DeLillo (Underworld)
addiction
“People took such awful chances with chemicals and their bodies because they wanted the quality of their lives to improve. They lived in ugly places where there were only ugly things to do. They didn't own doodley-squat, so they couldn't improve their surroundings. so they did their best to make their insides beautiful instead.” - Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions)
the meaning of life
“Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne.” - Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions)
humanity
“We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.” - Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions)
capitalism
“Climate change, teen depression, income inequality, and profligate debt have made a lot of people exceptionally wealthy. And the cost to unwind the damage will be expensive … for all of us.” - Scott Galloway
simplicity
“The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s much easier to make it complex.” - Yvon Chouinard
global warming
“The planet was being destroyed by manufacturing processes, and what was being manufactured was lousy, by and large.” - Kurt Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions)
meaning
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.
Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
veteran's day
I read this short but powerful piece this AM. I had never heard the story of George Lawrence Price, the last soldier to die in WWI.
flaws
“We hold the flaws of others before our eyes but turn our backs toward our own.” - Seneca
attitude
"Being pleasant and having a good attitude is a simple way to become luckier. Opportunities come through people, and people are more likely to bring opportunities to people they like. It's hard to win if your attitude adds friction to every interpersonal experience." - James Clear
BADBADNOTGOOD
Incredible new album by BADBADNOTGOOD. Pushing jazz forward.
panic
“There is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.” - Chris Hadfield
extreme ownership
“Fault always lies in the same place: with those weak enough to lay blame.” paraphrased from a character in a book
discipline and disappointment
“There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you’ll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment.” – Nick Saban
bias
“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.” – Harper Lee
imperfection
"Almost everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy, scared, and yet designed for joy. Even (or especially) people who seem to have it more or less together are more like the rest of us than you would believe. I try not to compare my insides to their outsides, because this makes me much worse than I already am, and if I get to know them, they turn out to have plenty of irritability and shadow of their own. Besides, those few people who aren’t a mess are probably good for about twenty minutes of dinner conversation.
This is good news, that almost everyone is petty, narcissistic, secretly insecure, and in it for themselves, because a few of the funny ones may actually long to be friends with you and me. They can be real with us, the greatest relief. As we develop love, appreciation, and forgiveness for others over time, we may accidentally develop those things toward ourselves, too." - Anne Lamott
punishment
“Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
consumerism
“He would start saving right away for a washing machine and car. They’d get an apartment with a balcony, their own furniture for a change, modern pieces, sleek and clean. These are the standard ways to stop being lonely.” - Don DeLillo (Libra)
history
“This is what history consists of. It’s the sum total of all the things they’re not telling us.” - Don DeLillo (Libra)