“The reality of today, different as it is from the reality of my society one hundred years ago, is and can be important if we have the energy and the inclination to challenge it, to go out and engage with its peculiarities, with the things that we do not understand. The real danger is the tendency to retreat into the obvious, the tendency to be frightened by the richness of the world and to clutch what we always have understood.” IfsWorldYearsImportantDifferentRealRealityTodayEnergyChallengesDangerUnderstoodHundredYears AgoObviousTendenciesFrightenedRetreatInclinationRichnessClutch Book:There Was a Country: A Memoir Source: There Was a Country: A Memoir
“Words can mean different things to different people. It is important to understand what people mean when they use a certain word. Let's make an example. Take the word gay. Fifty years ago, gay meant exclusively cheerfulness, lighthearted excitement, merry or bright colors. Today this word has a different meaning. You won't call a cheerful person gay because it could be understood as something else.” PeopleYearsMeanPersonsImportantDifferentUseTodayCertainExampleColorGayUnderstoodYears AgoExcitementFiftyDifferent ThingsCheerfulDifferent PeoplesMerryCheerfulnessDifferent MeaningsBright Colors Author:Ali Sina
“Years ago I read an interview with Paula Fox in which she said that in writing, truth is just as important as story. Reading that interview was the first time I really understood that there's no point in trying to impress people with my cleverness when I can just try to write honestly about what matters most to me.” PeopleWritingTryingYearsFirstsSaidI CanImportantMatterStoriesReadingTruth IsUnderstoodFirst TimeYears AgoHonestlyInterviewsWhat MattersImpressFoxesNo PointClevernessNo Point In Trying Author:Molly Antopol
“This sounds cheesy but when I would get in discussions with people about religion or spirituality, a lot of people would say, "I believe God is nature, there's God in that tree" - and I would think, What the hell are they on about? But it was about four or five years ago in Hawaii where that all made sense to me and I got it all, and I felt God was in the trees and in the grass and the flowers, and I completely understood.” PeopleThinkingYearsBelieveMadeSpiritualityI BelieveFeltSoundHellFiveFourTreeFlowerUnderstoodYears AgoGrassDiscussionFive YearsBelieve In GodHawaiiCheesy Author:Natalie Maines
“I actually went on lectures at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and all the business schools eight years ago, explaining what the implications were and how the platforms could be powerful in creating the narrative of your brand and mobilizing your life so that you become humanized as well. I understood that and thought that was really empowering, not only to artists, but to brands as well and in general.” YearsWellsSchoolArtistPowerfulCreatingUnderstoodYears AgoEightBrandsNarrativeEmpoweringPlatformsExplainingLecturesImplicationsHarvardOxfordStanfordBusiness School Author:MC Hammer
“I have been a vegetarian for forty-two years. I did it because I didn't want animals to die so I could eat. Then, eight to ten years ago, when I found out the life of a dairy cow is way worse than the life of a beef cow, I understood I had to switch to complete veganism. Otherwise, I would be very inconsistent in my beliefs that animals shouldn't be abused for food.” WayWantYearsHas BeensTwoWould BeDiesFoundBeliefAnimalTenUnderstoodYears AgoEightFortyTwo YearsVegetarianCowsVeganismBeefInconsistentDairyDairy Cows Author:Sam Simon
“While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.” YearsLittlesGovernmentPoliticalThreePoliticsLibertyFourSocietyThousandUnderstoodYears AgoThousand YearsStandstill Author:John Adams
“In places where a loved one has died, time stops for eternity. If I stand on the very spot, one says to oneself, like a prayer, might I feel the pain he felt? They say that on a visit to an old castle or whatever, the history of the place, the presence of people who walked there many years ago, can be felt in the body. Before, when I heard things like that, I would think, what are they talking about? But i felt I understood it now.” PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsYearsBodyMightPainFeltPrayerTalkingHeardUnderstoodYears AgoEternityDiedOneselfSpotsLoved OnesCastles Book:Three plays Source: Three plays