“We cannot count on seeing our work completed here below, and happy is the man whose will is not too painfully invested in his efforts. No house is built, no plan created, in which ruin is not the cornerstone, and what lives imperishably in us does not reside in our works.”
Source: On the Marble Cliffs
“I drive by a business that has a permanent sign that says, "Always hiring." Why in the world would they advertise the fact that they have continual turnover? They might as well say, "You'll hate working here.”
Source: I design saxophone music in blocks, like Stonehenge
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and
worth and should be pursued with respect for excellence.”
Source: Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?
“Women always ask me what I do for a living. The answer should be obvious: As little as possible.”
Source: I design saxophone music in blocks, like Stonehenge
“Bravery is a fleeting beast, isn’t it? Always there to get you into trouble, but quick to disappear once you’re where you want to be”
Source: The Crown of Gilded Bones
“Service" is the motto of the advertiser, of big business, and of fraudulent finance. And of others, too. Listen to this: "I expect the judiciary to understand that the nation does not exist for their conveniences, but that justice exists to serve the nation." That was Hitler yesterday—and that is what becomes of "service," when the community, and not the work, becomes its idol. There is, in fact, a paradox about working to serve the community, and it is this: that to aim directly at serving the community is to falsify the work; the only way to serve the community is to forget the community and serve the work.”
Source: Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine
“When you've finished with a book, it's as if your innermost self has been ransacked, and all you want is to regain distance, return to being whole.”
“There would be no 'quiet quitting' if people didn’t feel that they are being quietly marginalized and bullied in the first place.
[From “On the Great Resignation” published on CounterPunch on February 24, 2023]”
“Work occupies much of our time. Doing work we hate assaults our self-esteem and self-confidence. Yet most workers cannot do the work they love. But we can all enhance our capacity to live purposely by learning how to experience satisfaction in whatever work we do. We find that satisfaction by giving any job total commitment. When I had a teaching job I hated (the kind of job where you long to be sick so you have an excuse for not going to work), the only way I could ease the severity of my pain was to give my absolute best. This strategy enabled me to live purposely. Doing a job well, even if we do not enjoy what we are doing, means that we leave it with a feeling of well-being, or with self-esteem intact. That self-esteem aids us when we go in search of a job that can be more fulfilling.”
Source: All About Love: New Visions
“Isolation
Half remembered of my home and kites,
Last night, with a lonely sense of fight
Started again to rework my poor life
Rejection
Yielded with blossoms - No free blossoms
Swift to the glare and noise to the town
Boy, may your strength never die”
Source: Comfortable in the Chaos