this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
169 points (97.7% liked)

Asklemmy

45507 readers
882 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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?

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] CyberMonkey404@lemmy.ml 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"Who's 'we', paleface?"

It's from a silly joke, so it's not meant to be taken seriously. But I remember it every time some politician or Internet dweller or anything in between uses "we" to describe a position, an opinion, etc. Who's 'we'? Do you dream to speak for others, for me? In my stead?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"we are born alone, we live alone, and we die alone. it is only through love and relationships that we create the illusion that we are not alone"

[–] BmeBenji@lemm.ee 8 points 3 days ago

If the point of this one is to emphasize how no one lives your life except for you, that’s great and all but holy shit there are less depressing ways of getting that across.

Humanity is a social animal. If you live your life under the guidance that loneliness is omnipresent and companionship is merely an illusion I strongly urge you to rethink the way you go about your days. Find people to talk to in person and do things with them.

I think capitalism and the ruling class has desperately tried to convince everyone that they are alone because if the working class sees themself as one body the ruling class is fucked

[–] Tyrangle@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"They say, 'Evil prevails when good men fail to act.' What they ought to say is, 'Evil prevails.'

Bleak quote from Lord of War that has stuck with me. Reminds me of Sophie Scholl.

[–] MathiasTCK@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I am reminded of: "The law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone; and it cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone."

The lesser known conclusion to Wilhoits Law.

https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/

"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:

There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

[–] temporal_spider@lemm.ee 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for bad trouble." Peter Clemenza, The Godfather

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] yax@feddit.org 11 points 3 days ago

Don't be upsetti, eat some spaghetti.

Sounds silly but genuinely helps me not get too upset about things I don't hold much power over. At the end of the day I can still make a pot of spaghetti and enjoy it. I like spaghetti.

[–] dajoho@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 days ago

Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.

[–] pedroparamo@lemm.ee 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Mine is not as deep as yours and kind of cheesy since you see them in posters, Tshirts and stickers etc. it’s “pain is temporary, glory is forever.” This sentence helped me get through college while working mad hours just to pay for my tuition while writing essays and studying for exams. I would repeat this over and over to myself just to get through that day or moment hoping things would be better.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"Bones heal, chicks dig scars, and the United States of America has the best doctor to daredevil ratios in the world!"

[–] impudentmortal@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Thanks Lance Murdock!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim, swim

Underrated Dory wisdom

[–] glibg@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 days ago

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. -- Franz Kafka

[–] DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 days ago (4 children)

I don't necessarily think it's underrated because it's the underpinning of a major religion, but;

Existence is suffering.

The first noble truth of Buddhism that I don't think enough people really grasp.

On first read, those three words sound like an angsty teen being all sad, but a deeper exploration tells us that to expect a life of ease and unending contentment is to set ourselves up for continued disappointment and anguish.

When I first really absorbed the meaning of this it actually made me feel incredible. I am alive, therefore my knee hurts. I am alive, so I'm worried for the welfare of those I love. And when I considered it even further I began to understand that this is something that connects us all, regardless of our status in the world. From the most powerful kings and presidents to those sleeping rough begging for change; we are all fundamentally the same.

For me, it's really helped me to push through boundaries that have stopped me being more assertive with those who are more powerful than I am; managers, bosses and such. My boss worries about stuff the same way I do. It's probably different stuff, sure, but he's still experiencing existential pain.

I am not a Buddhist, nor am I particularly spiritual. But I take a lot of inspiration from that phrase.

[–] Delphia@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I buy a lottery ticket every week. Not because I think I stand a chance of winning but I am renting the idea that I could solve 95% of my problems instantly.

I wont win, I'll still have problems I know this but that $10 a week is me renting hope.

[–] m0darn@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

I think schopenhauer's quote:

to overcome difficulties if to experience the full delight of existence context

is a corollary of sorts.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] thefactremains@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

“The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding” Dipen Parmar

[–] BreadOven@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Creative minds are uneven, and the best of fabrics have their dull spots.

H.P. Lovecraft

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Summa@lemmy.wtf 8 points 3 days ago

No matter how many books , videos you see , you cannot learn how to swim without entering the pool.

[–] ZagamTheVile@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

"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 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

Pretty much as written.

As one long breath with no breaks?

[–] BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 days ago

A evergreen quote:

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

[–] xelar@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It's all so tiresome - Lao Yang in the 2011 documentary Empire of Dust

[–] VirtigoMommy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 days ago

“It only ever ends once, everything before that is just progress” -Jacob from lost lol

[–] jaypatelani@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 days ago

Wen in dbt breath deep

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago (5 children)

a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.

What do you think WW1 was about?

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›