Inspiration and Life

I loved you
like a man loves a woman he never touches, only
writes to, keeps little photographs of. I would have
loved you more if I had sat in a small room rolling a
cigarette and listened to you piss in the bathroom,
but that didn’t happen. Your letters got sadder.
Your lovers betrayed you.

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—	Charles Bukowski (via vanityem)

Poetry is written with tears, fiction with blood, and history with invisible ink.

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—	Carlos Ruiz Zafon (The Angel’s Game)

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are

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—	e. e. cummings

I am a cage, in search of a bird.

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—	Franz Kafka (via blua)

Genuine friendship can only be based on trust and affection, which can only arise when there is a mutual sense of concern and respect.

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—	Dalai Lama (via listofmemories)

Sooner or later, everyone’s story has an unfortunate event or two…The solution, of course, is to stay as far away from the world as possible and lead a safe, simple life.

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—	Lemony Snicket

Nietzsche Quotes #1

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche is one of my top five books of all time. I think it is my favorite book by him and that is hard to say; not necessarily its philosophy, though it is magnificent in that regard, but it was personally very important to me and it is still one of my “go-to” books when I’m down.

Honestly, this book is about everything, but the big themes I focus on is: loneliness, overcoming yourself or hardships, being yourself, finding yourself, compassion, selflessness, and morality.

Pages 1 - 41.

“What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.”

I love this quote, it is in the very beginning of the book. It means to me that we can always change and improve, that we are not stagnate in whatever position we are. If we made a mistake we can go from there. And that also shows compassion for other people… They can change, they are not ends, and that is great about humanity.

“I love him whose soul squanders itself, who wants no thanks and returns none: for he always gives away and does not want to preserve himself.”

Nietzsche did not believe in God, in heaven or hell. He didn’t believe in good or evil or any type of morality, and still he can write about giving and being altruist in an amazing way.

“I love him who casts golden words before his deeds and always does even more than he promises.”

Doing more than you promise… Rocks. Simple.

“I love him whose soul is deep, even in being wounded, and who can perish of a small experience: thus he goes gladly over the bridge.”

One of the reasons I like Nietzsche is because he likes intensity. I feel like… the word “drama queen” is used so much that we’ve learned to despise feelings. And Nietzsche (Zarathustra) is saying that feeling and dying over small experiences is valuable. I agree.

“‘There they stand,’ he said to his heart; ‘there they laugh. They do not understand me; I am not the mouth for these ears.’”

I have quoted that last part when I feel like I’m being misunderstood.

“No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.”

Self explanatory.

“I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself.”

Nietzsche is very much about overcoming yourself.

“That he judged himself, that was his highest moment.”

A theme also found in Little Prince ;)

“Your killing, O judges, shall be pity and not revenge. And as you kill be sure that you yourselves justify life! It is not enough to make your peace with the man you kill.”

Death sentence. Hypocrisy of morality and the Church.

“And you, red judge, if you were to tell out loud all that you have already done in thought, everyone would cry, ‘Away with this filth and poisonous worm!’”

Hypocrisy of morality, justice system and the Church. I believe very strongly that the justice system should be about rehabilitating people, not punishing them. Nietzsche writes many times against punishment, and revenge.

“You say to me, ‘Life is hard to bear.’ But why would you have your pride in the morning and your resignation in the evening? Life is hard to bear; but do not act so tenderly! We are all of us fair beasts of burden, male and female asses. What do we have in common with the rosebud, which trembles because a drop of dew lies on it?

True, we love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving. There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”

Whenever I am sad or disscouraged I read this book because of parts like these, his attitude is like, yeah, life sucks, get over it, get it together and move on, what do you have in common with the freaking delicate flower?

The part about love many people mistake for romantic or platonic love (something Nietzsche didn’t write much about), but it is LOVE FOR LIFE. We are used to loving life, and this love has some madness in it, but… as Nietzsche contradicts himself, every madness has a little reason.

Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.

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—	Gone with the wind (via maudlinsmile)

By means of music the very passions enjoy themselves.

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—	Friedrich Nietzsche; Beyond Good and Evil

Would you like to save the world from the degradation and destruction it seems destined for? Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go to work on your own self-awareness. If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.

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—

Lao Tzu

Time is the longest distance between two places.

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—	*Tennessee Williams* (via it-sallornothing)

Very early on in writing the series, I remember a female journalist saying to me that Mrs Weasley, “Well, you know, she’s just a mother.” And I was absolutely incensed by that comment. Now, I consider myself to be a feminist, and I’d always wanted to show that just because a woman has made a choice, a free choice to say, “Well, I’m going to raise my family and that’s going to be my choice. I may go back to a career, I may have a career part time, but that’s my choice.” Doesn’t mean that that’s all she can do. And as we proved there in that little battle, Molly Weasley comes out and proves herself the equal of any warrior on that battlefield.

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—	J.K. Rowling, The Women of Harry Potter (via yerawizardharry)

I love no one but you, I have discovered, but you are far away and I am here alone. Then this is my life and maybe, however unlikely, I’ll find my way back there. Or maybe, one day, I’ll settle for second best. And on that same day, hell will freeze over, the sun will burn out and the stars will fall from the sky.

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—	Lemony Snicket

At the end of the day, there are some things you just can’t help but talk about. Some things we just don’t want to hear. And some things we say because we can’t be silent any longer. Some things are more than what you say, they’re what you do. Some things you say because there’s no other choice. Some things you keep to yourself. And not too often, but every now and then, some things simply speak for themselves.

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—	Grey’s Anatomy

It was total naivety that got me to Hollywood. I thought it was going to happen straight away. I told myself ‘give it 5 years, there’s no way I’ll be here after that if it doesn’t happen’. Cut to ten years later!

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—	Naomi Watts (via naomi-watts-org)