Even better if you can provide your own understanding of its meaning.

Mine would be :

“Nothing kills a man as much as being forced to represent a country” (and err considering the context, I must stress it has nothing to do with the current US shitshow), by a WW1 soldier, illustrator and writer named Jacques Vaché.

For me it just means being forced into representing a group (national, of course, but maybe also social, racial, sexual, professional, any kind of group) or defining one’s identity only by reference to a group is to be avoided at all costs.

Note : Its not the same, imho, as engaging in a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.

How about you?

  • K0W4L5K1@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    “Do to others as you want done too you” Wouldnt say its under rated just not actually followed by the masses that preach it but i prefer to say “dont treat people how you wouldnt want to be treated”

    • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      IMO some people take this too literally. Just because you want to be treated a certain way doesn’t mean other people want to be treated that way.

  • ZagamTheVile@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    “Time flies, time crawls You’re a prisoner trapped between its claws Life sucks, sometimes You gotta learn to live between the lines”

    Pretty much as written. Time marches forward no matter how I feel about it. My best friend died, people still sat in traffic on the way to work. My wife said she wanted a divorce, the mailman still brought me bills. I made the best chilli I’ve ever tasted and my neighbors cat disappeared. You gotta learn to just accept that life is fleeting and carve out your own space. Find your own joy. Bring your own good time. Because life doesn’t owe you anything and moaning about it won’t make things better.

    • sam2099@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
      Racing around to come up behind you again.
      The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older
      Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    It’s always darkest before the dawn.

    How I interpret it is that when things get bad, and reach a new level of bad, that could be just what is needed for the pendulum to swing the other way, and swing extra hard.

    Kind of like a Great Depression giving labour laws kind of a thing.

    Gives me hope.

  • 18107@aussie.zone
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    2 months ago

    You don’t need to do everything every day. Some days, surviving is enough.

  • Arehandoro@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    “You know, sweetheart, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: nobody knows what’s gonna happen at the end of the line, so you might as well enjoy the trip.” Manny Calavera

  • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    “Everything you want in life has teeth”, by the writer Jonathan Carroll. I believe it means that everything you pursue will hurt you in some way.

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    "Who I am is where I stand.

    Where I stand is where I fall."

    -Steven Moffat, Doctor Who

    I have a lot of darkness in my head due to my upbringing. I’ll never get it out. That doesn’t stop me from being a good man, because who you are and what you’ll be remembered as isn’t your internal struggle, its what you chose to stand for in practice.

    • MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Props to you for actually attributing the quote to the writer and not the character. It’s a pet peeve of mine when people take profound sounding quotes and attribute it to a fictional character that never existed, never had real thoughts or opinions of their own

      • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I agree it’s good to credit a writer, but the attribution should also include the character so the quote has context. For example, I would want there to be a distinction between a comment I made in real life and a line I wrote for a psychotic character to say.

        • MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I hadn’t thought of that before, and I can think of several characters who’ve said things I doubt the writers would want attributed to them. I just want to see quotes from fiction being clearly labeled as such, and not using the grandiose of a character’s title to add weight to the quote.

          For example when I see people quote Admiral William Adama on how when the military becomes the police, the people become the enemy of the state. That was Ron Moore writing a character for a show set in a post apocalyptic universe where the only survivors are hanging out on military ships, not a real world seasoned officer’s opinion. Is it an interesting point worth discussing? Sure, but I’m not putting it in the same category of 5-Star General Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about the military industrial complex

      • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Thank you! I try to, even though at the end of the day the best you can do is the show runner that signed off on it, as you’ll never really know who invented it in the writer’s room.

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”

    I would be so far ahead of where I am right now if I had just decided on a course and committed instead of analyzing all the choices to death.

  • Kaliax@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 months ago

    Never tie your identity to something that can be taken away. Re: job title, salary, perceived status. Your self perceived identity should have a much more stable foundation.

  • DecentM@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    “Nobody will take care of you if you don’t take care of yourself”

    Apply this to pushing back on contracts, double checking what you’re asked to do, and putting yourself first, and you’ll get a lot more respect in my experience. If you primarily put others first, your self will feel neglected. It doesn’t mean you should not care for others, but that your highest priority should be yourself, and then others.

    • Cadenza@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      A life lesson I’ll learn one day. Trying my best though, but it’ll take time. Thanks for sharing.

  • squid_slime@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    “Trust no one - not even yourself”

    My dad told me this while going through a divorce. He was also going through a criminal trial due to his deviance.

    Its one thing that stuck with me and I wish it didn’t.

    Another one is from Lenin: " ‘There Are Decades Where Nothing Happens’ and ‘Weeks Where Decades Happen’ "

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The Lenin one has been on my mind for like a year now. We’re coming up on the anniversary of the February revolution and I’m hoping that as things get worse we’ll see the point where we have had enough.

      • squid_slime@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Plenty of big flash points at current. I think we are seeing capitalism in disrepair, similar to 1920 Europe, world powers are rebalancing and competing for the now very limited resources. The working class are taking the brunt of the hardship and seek real change, and when trump can’t make good on those promises we will see a real struggle.

        Good luck out there comrade.

  • pavodive@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned.

    Richard Feynman