“There are personality traits, or baggage from their backgrounds, goals that they have and the first thing I need to do is understand and then acknowledge and then accept those properties. That's kind of the baseline requirement to have a productive relationship.” NeedsFirstsKindGoalAcceptingPersonalityPropertyBackgroundsAcknowledgeProductiveTraitsRequirementsBaggagePersonality Traits Author:Ian Bogost
“Forcing your spouse to stop doing that bad habit that drives you crazy, or making your kid be better at math or at art or at swimming, or making your parents or your in-laws not be annoying in the way that they're annoying, these are sometimes doomed goals.” WayArtSometimesKidsLawParentGoalCrazyHabitMathSwimmingAnnoyingDoomedSpouseIn-lawsBad Habits Author:Ian Bogost
“We have been trained to think we have enormous power over the world. Whatever you dream, you can do. Anything can be bent to your will. But actually isn't it much more interesting to imagine that you're quite small?” ThinkingWorldHas BeensDreamCan DoInterestingImagineEnormousImagine ThatBent Author:Ian Bogost
“There's just an enormous vast universe of possible intrigue out there and why not pay attention to it? Because then you're not burdened with trying to find that meaning in yourself all the time.” TryingUniversePayAttentionEnormousPay AttentionWhy NotIntrigue Author:Ian Bogost
“We don't like to think of ourselves as subject to the forces of the world, we like to think of ourselves as exerting that force.” ThinkingWorldForceSubjects Author:Ian Bogost
“I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.” PeopleThinkingPossibilityInfiniteMiserySensationsInfinite Possibilities Author:Ian Bogost
“We're stuck in these situations with other people and our stuff and our jobs, and thinking that we can extract ourselves from those seems doomed to me. Instead, how can we live within those systems of constraints? We don't have to enjoy them, exactly, but at least acknowledge that those boundaries are real and that they structure our response to the world. And then once you do that, you allow yourself to say "I did my best given the circumstances."” PeopleThinkingWorldRealSeemsJobsGivenStuffEnjoySituationCircumstancesStructureResponseStuckBoundariesAcknowledgeDoomedConstraints Author:Ian Bogost
“The actual effort that you can exert upon the universe is fairly limited.” UniverseEffort Author:Ian Bogost
“It's helpful to be prepared to celebrate the tiny things that you can do, where you meet the world and you negotiate an outcome that's quite tiny. But you can still make it feel remarkable.” WorldFeelsStillsCan DoPreparedTinyCelebrateOutcomesRemarkableHelpfulBe PreparedTiny Things Author:Ian Bogost