Quotes
Interesting quotes from people more famous than me.
When We Become Our Own Worst Insticts
There are moments when we all become someone else. Something other than what we are. It takes only a moment. But we spend the rest of our lives looking back at that moment in shame. For one instant, out of a lifetime of service, he became his own worst instincts. — Delenn, “Objects at Rest” (Babylon 5, Season 5, Episode 22. Written by J. Michael Straczynski)
There are times in our lives when, because of hurt, or immaturity, or anger, or any other strong emotion, we do things that completely alter the way others see us. At those moments, we reveal the very worst part of ourselves, the part we choose never to show. (Bloggers have documented evidence of these moments, usually because of hitting “Publish” too early.) Some call this “the true self,” but I do not subscribe to that. We are more than the worst of ourselves, more than what we reveal during times of great emotion. The actions we take then are choices we make once, but for which consequences can last a lifetime, especially when they involve others. And sometimes, the very worst of these, happen due to misunderstandings brought about by one simple fact: that to every story there are three sides: your side, their side, and the truth. Read more…
Categories: Quotes Tags: babylon 5, relationships
Suspension of Disbelief
A while back, I read the following in Neil Gaiman’s Journal, as he wrote about his impressions of the most recent Dr. Who episodes:
[T]here were bits of plot . . . that necessitated not just suspension of one’s disbelief but the surgical extraction of said disbelief before dangling it over a vat of bubbling acid in the hopes that it would shut up.
– Neil Gaiman, regarding a recent Dr. Who episode
It was a moment like that which finally tossed me over the edge and forced me to pursue the life of a fiction author, in the hopes that one day people would choose to read/watch/play my stories and not have to suffer a full-on suspensionofdisbeliefectomy.
Then again, I wonder whether disbelief can be used in order to enhance a story. Does it always detract?
Categories: Quotes, Writing Tags: neil gaiman
Meaning vs. Happiness
Mr. Linderman: There comes a time when a man has to ask himself whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning.
Nathan Petrelli: I’d like to have both.
Mr. Linderman: Can’t be done. Two very different paths. To be truly happy a man must live absolutely in the present. No thought of what has gone before and no thought of what lies ahead . . . but a for a life of meaning, a man is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future.
– Heroes, Season 1 Episode 18 (1.18): “Parasite” Read more…
Categories: Quotes Tags: happiness, Heroes, meaning, television
Anything Can Happen After Your First Draft
I saw this on Tumblr recently and felt it had to be shared.
Rantings Ravings Dragon Tamings asked:
Dear Mr. Gaiman, I am following your advice on writing and well, writing. I’m even handwriting so as to stop myself from preemptive editing. However, every day it becomes more and more apparent to me that the book I have in my mind is way better than the one that’s coming out. I get the feeling that once I get around to editing the book, it will end up changing A LOT. Is this normal? Is it okay for the plot to undergo lots of changes later as well? Or should I just write a better first draft?
Neil Gaiman responded: Read more…
Categories: Personal Development, Quotes, Writing Tags: advice, neil gaiman
If You Just Walk Long Enough
“Cheshire Puss…Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
– Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
Categories: Personal Development, Quotes Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Cheshire Cat, goals
One Bit Better
[I]f the question of perfection means wading through hell and back for some minuscule attempt to be better than you already are, because I love what I do, I see nothing wrong in that. I guess that’s what passion is about.
– Edrei Zahari of Footsteps in the Mirror, in response to Quality: When Enough is Enough
Categories: Personal Development, Quotes, Writing Tags: Edrei Zahari, Kaizen, Quality
So, Masters of Nature?
We are all now being manipulated by corn . . . [The idea of ethanol] is the final triumph of corn over good sense. It is part of corn’s scheme for world domination. And you will see, the amount of corn planted this year will be up dramatically from last year and there’ll be that much more habitat because we’ve decided that ethanol’s going to help us.
Categories: Quotes Tags: Michael Pollan, science, TED
We Are Alive
…[W]e are alive and that it is gift and privilege, not right. We must earn life once it has been awarded to us. Life asks for rewards back because it has favored us with animation.
– Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing
When was the last time you looked at the world around you and thanked–or even thought about–the splendor of existence and life? Read more…
Categories: Observations, Personal Development, Quotes Tags: happiness, Ray Bradburry
Nothing stranger
The brown book I carry says there is nothing stranger than to explore a city wholly different from all those one knows, since to do so is to explore a second and unsuspected self. I have found a thing stranger: to explore such a city only after one has lived in it for some time without learning anything of it. — from Sword & Citadel: The Second Half of ‘The Book of the New Sun’
, chapter two, Upon the Cataract, by Gene Wolfe
Moving back to Tampa has been a rather interesting experience, proving the second statement very, very true.
Categories: Quotes Tags: books, Gene Wolfe
The Web and Who We Are
To 99% of the population, the web is still a place. Something we go visit. Soon the web will become not only where we are, but who we are. In time we will realize how much of a societal shift the web will have caused. I think it’s fundamental the other 1% understand that. – Nils Geylen
Considering Nils is someone who I read regularly, I’m rather surprised it took Andrew Eglinton pointing it out for me to notice. (To be fair, I mostly read Nils’s blog via RSS.)
