April, out of context
this month's quotables
Each day I pause to write down the things that bring me joy: the places where I experience happiness (‘found joy’) and the places where I contribute to the happiness of others (‘brought joy’).
I also use this notebook to collect random quotes that I find interesting or meaningful or that stand out. At the end of each month I’ll post these random quotes, shared out of context.
Forget the myths the media’s created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys. (Deep Throat, All the President’s Men)
I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept. (Angela Davis)
And if it gets rough, it’s time to get rough. (Haim)
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on miltary defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Writing is the expression (and exploration!) of an idea. (John Warner)
You can’t spell tariffs without FFS. (David Cochrane)
If we make it through this dark period with democracy intact, it may be because the adminstration’s incompetence was greater than its depravity. (@marcelias.bsky.social)
The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other and to be stretched large by them. How much sorrow can I hold? That’s how much gratitude I can give. If I carry only grief, I’ll bend toward cynicism and despair. If I have only gratitude, I’ll become saccharine and won’t develop much compassion for other people’s suffering. Grief keeps the heart fluid and soft, which helps make compassion possible. (Francis Weller)
You can no longer make students do the reading or the writing. So what’s left? Only this: give them work they want to do. And help them want to do it. What, again, is education? The non-coercive rearranging of desire. (from “Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?” by D. Graham Burnett)
If America hasn’t broken your heart, then you don’t love her enough. (Senator Cory Booker)
Sometimes we are blessed with being able to choose the time, and the arena, and the manner of our revolution, but more usually we must do battle where we are standing. (Audre Lorde)
defy, verb.
to act in accordance with your true values when there is pressure to do otherwise. (Sunita Sah)
When you think of the long and gloomy history of [humans], you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion. (C. P. Snow)
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. (HL Mencken)
Women may be the only group that grows more radical with age. (Gloria Steinem)
You deserve a lover who takes away the lies and brings you hope, coffee, and poetry. (Frida Kahlo)
It's not about asking, it's about demanding. It's not about convincing those who are currently in power, it's about changing the very face of power itself. (Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw)
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.
(Octavia E. Butler)
As they say, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. (Margaret Atwood)
Look closely at the present you are constructing, it should look like the future you are dreaming. (Alice Walker)
The level of sadism unleashed against Palestinians is truly unfathomable. It is redefining what genocide looks like, and yet, no one reacts. (Francesca Albanese)
Hello, I'm not buying diamonds with Chucky money. The Chucky money just pays for my snacks. (Jennifer Tilly, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills)
Love is profoundly political. Our deepest revolution will come when we understand this truth. (bell hooks)
You cannot use someone else’s fire. You can only use your own. And in order to do that, you must first be willing to believe that you have it. (Audre Lorde)
Good morning, revolution: you’re the very best friend I ever had. (Langston Hughes)
Privilege is not an accomplishment.
Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people. (Carl Jung)
I write this letter as the sun rises, hoping that the suspension of my rights will raise alarm bells that yours are already in jeopardy. I hope it will inspire your outrage that the most basic human instinct, to protest shameless massacre, is being repressed by obscure laws, racist propaganda and a state terrified of an awakened public. I hope this writing will startle you into understanding that a democracy for some — a democracy of convenience — is no democracy at all. I hope it will shake you into acting before it is too late. (Mahmoud Khalil)
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. (Rabbi Tarfon)
When you identify where your world view came from, go visit it. (Beau Miles)
Tell me the landscape in which you live, and I will tell you who you are. (Ortega y Gasset)
Fight for access, not permission. (@devthepineapple)
A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the Gospel. (Pope Francis on Trump, 2016)
Kody has said, ‘Well, all of a sudden, I met Robyn and she’s this Diesel jeans model and she’s everything I want.” And I’m thinking, That’s rich, dude. (Janelle on Sister Wives)
No more apologies for a bleeding heart when the opposite is no heart at all. Danger of losing our humanity must be met with more humanity. (Toni Morrison)
Your enemy isn't carrying all their belongings in a plastic bag. Your enemy is carrying an investment portfolio. Wake the fuck up! (Liam Cunningham)
You are not Proust. Do not write long sentences. If they come into your head, write them, but then break them down. (Umberto Eco, How to write a thesis)
President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us — that will never ever happen … We’re over the shock of the American betrayal. We have to take care of each other. (Canadian PM Mark Carney’s acceptance speech)