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Control Quotes

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Control Quotes

“I have heard that, with some persons, temperance – that is, moderation – is almost impossible; and if abstinence be an evil (which some have doubted), no one will deny that excess is a greater. Some parents have entirely prohibited their children from tasting intoxicating liquors; but a parent’s authority cannot last for ever; children are naturally prone to hanker after forbidden things; and a child, in such a case, would be likely to have a strong curiosity to taste, and try the effect of what has been so lauded and enjoyed by others, so strictly forbidden to himself – which curiosity would generally be gratified on the first convenient opportunity; and the restraint once broken, serious consequences might ensue.”

ChildrenEvilParentsControlExcessModerationUpbringingTemperanceAbstinence
Author:Anne Brontë
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“Nobody can plan the actions of even a thousand living persons, separately. Anyone attempting to control millions must divide them into classes, and make a plan applying to these classes. But these classes do not exist. No two persons are alike. No two are in the same circumstances; no two have the same abilities; beyond getting the barest necessities of life, no two have the same desires. Therefore the men who try to enforce, in real life, a planned economy that is their theory, come up against the infinite diversity of human beings. The most slavish multitude of men that was ever called "demos" or "labor" or "capital" or "agriculture" or "the masses," actually are men; they are not sheep. Naturally, by their human nature, they escape in all directions from regulations applying to non-existent classes. It is necessary to increase the number of men who supervise their actions. Then (for officials are human, too) it is necessary that more men supervise the supervisors. Still, individuals will continue to act individually, in ways that they plan. These ways do not fit into Authority's plan. So still more men are needed, imperatively needed, to stop or to supervise these new ways of acting; and more men to supervise these supervisors; and more men to co-ordinate the constantly increasing complexity of all this supervision. An attempt to exercise a control of individuals that in reality does not exist, must increase in volume.”

GovernmentFreedomGroupsCircumstancesControlBureaucracyImpossibilitySupervisionIndividuals
Author:Rose Wilder Lane
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“I spent so much time thinking about regret. Regret and its accompanying conviction that there is a perfect, placid life, one's own alternate existence, pristine and simple, existing in a neighboring reality in which certain turns in the road were never set upon. And it isn't true. Any of it. I knew that. I had learned it. But it is an irresistible fantasy, if only because it implies we have some control over our fates.”

FateRegretControl
Book:Life Drawing
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“If we believe that we have control over life, we’re living in an illusion. And if we attempt to protect, strengthen, and expand this illusion, our influence on what’s genuinely happening becomes increasingly smaller; mired in resistance, our life would become a cycle of anxious complaining, postponed decisions, and missed opportunities.”

LifeInfluenceIllusionComplainingResistanceDecisionsControlOpportunities
Book:The Mosaic: Realizations about Our Life, Consciousness, and Existence
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“He knew once he stepped into that kind of environment, again, the options would be limited. He’d no longer have the freedom or control to make any important decisions. He’d be just another pawn to be used on the chessboard by the white shirt bosses, who would likely be making their decisions from a safe distant location and passing them along down the totem pole. It was just how his job worked.”

WorkFreedomEnvironmentChessDecisionsControlJason MedinaThe Manhattanville IncidentCopsLimited
Book:The Manhattanville Incident: An Undead Novel
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“Power as a beneficial tool for aspiring achievers is primarily made up into four folds; 1. Power to control emotions, 2. Power to make right decisions, 3. Power to stand against depression, 4. Power to excel in innovations.”

DecisionPowerfulPowerFourDepressionEmotionsInnovationExcellenceFood For ThoughtIsraelmore AyivorInventionDecisionsExcellentControlSelf ControlBeneficialDecideDo ItExcelInnovateToolDepressInnovatorDunamisInnovationsDo It BetterDunamis PowerPrimary4Aspiring AchieverStand AgainstAspiring AchieversMake New ThingsControl EmotionsPrimarily
Author:Israelmore Ayivor
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“But when emotions get strong, humans have to do something. Some people encase their emotions by playing or exercising, whereas others calm their emotions by breaking things. People in the latter group could let their feelings out just by breaking furniture or the like. But Morino was unable to direct those feelings outward, so she'd directed them at herself.”

EmotionsControlMangaJapanese LiteratureGothInner ThoughtsSuppressing Emotions
Book:Goth
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“I can't tell you how many times in my life I have been told that I have “control issues”. Historically, this statement has brought me annoyance—the kind of irritation that can only be described as a self-protective reaction to having my behaviours labelled for exactly what they were. Needless to say, these accusations would make me defensive. I'd pull my armour tighter and get out my weapons—anything to protect myself from the truth. I realized, one day, that there were only a few things I could control, and a whole lot of things that I couldn't. I realized that trying to control everything around me was a recipe for failure, because it simply wasn't possible. I wish I could tell you that I "let go" then—that it was a lovely, beautiful spiritual moment, and now I'm all better. But that isn't true. Because, for me, seeking to control things which can't be controlled isn't a random tick or flaw. It's a stage of communication in the language of my own mind. If I don't listen to the first whispers that tell me I've repressed some emotion or neglected to process some event—then, stage two starts. Every piece of dirt on the floor, every chewing noise, every unexpected obstacle... they all become intolerable. So, I have two choices when this happens. I can allow my desire to control the outside world to turn into trying to control it. Or, I can allow myself to hear what is being said to me—to interpret this strange language that I speak to myself in and respond with compassion. Do I consistently do the wise thing first? No. I forget. And then I remember, somewhere in the middle of neurotically scrubbing a wall. But I remember faster now than I did before, and sometimes I really am able to respond quickly. It's a journey. I'm not perfect. But I am doing the right thing, and I get better at it every time I have the chance to practice. That's what learning and letting go really is—a practice. It's never over. And it never is, and never will be, perfect.”

EmotionsSelf AwarenessControlControl Issues
Author:Vironika Tugaleva
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“fade in / fade out that's all you can do when you're heart's without fade in / fade out when you're not whole, you fight to keep Light out fade in / fade out the control of it all will just wear you out fade in / fade out the dark veil is rad until the SPECTRUM shout! -from the poem 'energy flips.”

PoetryEnergyHealingEnlightenmentConfusedControlLight And DarknessIndie AuthorWishy Washy
Book:Not Your Kind: The Gaslit Files
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“False accusations of harm are used to avoid acknowledgment of complicity in creating conflict and instead escalate normative conflict to the level of crisis. This choice to punish rather than resolve is a product of distorted thinking, and relies on reinforcement of negative group relationships, when instead these ideolo- gies should be actively challenged. Through this over-statement of harm, false accusations are used to justify cruelty, while shunning keeps information from entering into the process. Resistance to shunning, exclusion, and unilateral control, while necessary, are mischaracterized as harm and used to re-justify more escalation towards bullying, state intervention, and violence. Emphasizing communication and repair, instead of shunning and separation, is the key to transforming these paradigms.”

ConflictSeparationPunishmentCrueltyIdeologyControlResolutionExclusionFalse Accusations
Book:Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair
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“I am talking here about the need for every woman to live a considered life. The necessity for that consideration grows and deepens as one faces directly one's own mortality and death. Self scrutiny and an evaluation of our own lives, while painful, can be rewarding and strengthening journeys toward a deeper self. For as we open ourselves more and more to the genuine conditions of our lives, women become less and less willing to tolerate those conditions unaltered, or to passively accept external and destructive controls over our lives and our identities.”

LifeDeathWomenPowerControlMortalityOpenness
Book:The Cancer Journals
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“Laila could picture the flow of traffic all around her. From above, she watched the cars move along in streams like all those ants on her kitchen floor. What had they been looking for anyway? A crumb here, a speck of sugar there? The vast stockpiles of food in the pantry and fridge remained untouched. For that matter, what kept all these cars returning to the city day after day? A little money, a little entertainment? Surface operations like Livetrac kept the ants fighting over crumbs while the obscene fortunes of a shadowy elite were counted not in dollars but in lives.”

CitiesSocietyCapitalismMiddle ClassControlWorking ClassInsectsBugsCityModern Life
Book:Dreck
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“The common thread in Asimov's robot stories is a self-fulfilling prophecy. That being afraid of science and technology leads us to acting in ways that are detrimental to ourselves and society. Or, to indvertently hand over control to people who want to misuse it, simply by our refusal to understand it. [James Portnow, Extra Credits. Asimov Summary]”

SocietyScience FictionControlSelf Fulfilling ProphecyTechnology Existential RisksAsimov
Author:James Portnow Extra Credits
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