#provoking

Given the obstacles to merging these fragile and diverse forms of storytelling into a single tale, it is, paradoxically, by venturing in the opposite direction -- by listening for the silences between accounts; by discovering what each genre of recordkeeping cannot tell us -- that we can capture most fully the human struggle to understand our elusive past. What this past asks of us in return is a willingness to recount all our stories -- our darkest tales as well as our most inspiring ones -- and to ponder those stories that violence has silenced forever. For until we recognize our shared capacity for inhumanity, how can we ever hope to tell stories of our mutual humanity? ↗

— Karl Jacoby

#inspirational

What is it like to be at one with the world? Is it peaceful, where we simply fade into nothing-ness? Or a delicate balance, one where the slightest of things disturbs it. Is it humbling or terrifying? Does it take our breath away? Or does it subtly flow through us all, finding rare times to surface. ↗

— Alexander Geiersbach

#life #thought-provoking #life

The generation that followed did not have the same concerns; none of its members attempted to follow the example of the past generation. There was no longer anyone with the noble determination to get to know the great men of the world, or if there were some individuals consumed with this curiosity, they were few in number. From then on, there remained only vulgar minds given over to hatred, envy and discord, who took an interest only in things which did not concern them, gossip, slander, calumny of one's neighbors, all those things which are the source of the worst of our troubles. ↗

— Cheikh Anta Diop

#men

There are lots of great movies coming out of the U.S. but it's not something I've ever really been interested in. They're great films but I much prefer the smaller independent films, which are more thought provoking and experimental. ↗

— Billie Piper

#coming #ever #experimental #films #great

Consciousness is only possible through change; change is only possible through movement. ↗

— Aldous Huxley

#consciousness #movement #thought-provoking #art

… a slave mentality which had been built into him by years of carrot-and-whip grading, a mule mentality which said, “If you don’t whip me, I won’t work.” He didn’t get whipped. He didn’t work. ↗

— Robert M. Pirsig

#art

Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken... ↗

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

#faith

On their sofas of spice and feathers, the concubines also slept fretfully. In those days the Earth was still flat, and people dreamed often of falling over edges. ↗

— Tom Robbins

#inspirational #sleep #thought-provoking #writing #dreams

His heart...responds to those once-upon-a-time people, anonymous in the shadows, the faith it took them to come together and rest and listen through the gruesomeness, their patience for the ever after, happy or not. ↗

— Lauren Groff

#faith

I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too. ↗

— Brian Selznick

#imagination