You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago. - Alan Watts

"Don't let perfect be the enemy of good."

I would be so far ahead of where I am right now if I had just decided on a course and committed instead of analyzing all the choices to death.

It’s a poem by Stephen Crane, but so short I’m often reminded of it in full:

A man said to the universe:

”Sir, I exist!”

“However,” replied the universe,

“The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation.”

It sounds nihilistic, but it’s somehow calming whenever I start to feel like I’ve been wronged or I’m owed a break of some sort.

Dad told me when I was young to "learn to drink your coffee black and cold and you'll never be disappointed."

I don't think he was just talking about coffee.

Men are scared that women will laugh at them , women are scared that men will kill them.

I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned.

Richard Feynman

"Don't follow people - follow ideas" which seems more relevant today than ever before it seems.

I got two. First is just Hanlon's razor; "Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence"

The second one is a bit of a strange pick; its "But there's no sense crying over every mistake; You just keep on trying till you run out of cake."

Fortune favors the bold.

It was written in a graduation card from my grandfather.

It’s always darkest before the dawn.

How I interpret it is that when things get bad, and reach a new level of bad, that could be just what is needed for the pendulum to swing the other way, and swing extra hard.

Kind of like a Great Depression giving labour laws kind of a thing.

Gives me hope.

Hold on tightly, let go lightly.

The Croupier in Croupier.

It doesn't come with extra instructions, so it means what I want it to mean and someone else may have it mean something else entirely. For me it means hold on to the important things tightly while they are important and when they aren't then it is time to let them and other things go.

Don't carry things that don't need to be held onto, especially if you can't control them. I hold onto the memories of my sister both good and bad, I embrace the pain of her not being here anymore when they come, then I let the pain go because I keep ahold of the happiness she brought into people's lives while she was here.

Never tie your identity to something that can be taken away. Re: job title, salary, perceived status. Your self perceived identity should have a much more stable foundation.

Golf: A nice walk, ruined.

Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Those who know history are doomed to know it's repeating.

It's the second part that makes this otherwise well know phrase hit much closer to home for me.

"Who I am is where I stand.

Where I stand is where I fall."

-Steven Moffat, Doctor Who

I have a lot of darkness in my head due to my upbringing. I'll never get it out. That doesn't stop me from being a good man, because who you are and what you'll be remembered as isn't your internal struggle, its what you chose to stand for in practice.

"It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it." -Seneca

When we complain about not having enough time, we think of ourselves as being passively allocated an insufficient resource. But maybe the problem isn't that life is too short, but that we waste much of the time we're given.

I think this is relevant in these modern times more than ever. How much of our time goes to mindless scrolling, worrying about things beyond our control, or pursuing goals that don't truly align with our values? We should be thinking about the difference between being busy and spending time meaningfully.

And that's not to say all time spent should be something "productive". Leisure time can be meaningful. But I think it's worth even thinking about that. Are you truly happy with how you choose to spend your leisure time when you watch 100 short videos you probably won't even remember? Or when you sit there getting angry or depressed about article after article after article? I think it's worth thinking about.

"Trust no one - not even yourself"

My dad told me this while going through a divorce. He was also going through a criminal trial due to his deviance.

Its one thing that stuck with me and I wish it didn't.

Another one is from Lenin: " 'There Are Decades Where Nothing Happens' and 'Weeks Where Decades Happen' "

"Nobody will take care of you if you don't take care of yourself"

Apply this to pushing back on contracts, double checking what you're asked to do, and putting yourself first, and you'll get a lot more respect in my experience. If you primarily put others first, your self will feel neglected. It doesn't mean you should not care for others, but that your highest priority should be yourself, and then others.

You don't need to do everything every day. Some days, surviving is enough.

"You know, sweetheart, if there's one thing I've learned, it's this: nobody knows what's gonna happen at the end of the line, so you might as well enjoy the trip." Manny Calavera

Sadly, pretty much all struggles against a common oppressor take on heavy identity characteristics and have the accompanying problems. It's the main reason they don't work immediately.

Anyway, probably "What I cannot build, I don't understand", by Richard Feynman (although the exact wording varies by source). If I write a book that's probably going to take up the first page.

The worst decisions make the best stories. - Unknown

"Everything you want in life has teeth", by the writer Jonathan Carroll. I believe it means that everything you pursue will hurt you in some way.

You can't leave the party if you can't find the door. Randall Jacobs, aka Uncle Bunky

obituary, worth reading

It's not a party if it happens every night