Robert Smith

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https://open.substack.com/pub/robertsmithwriter?r=335gy6&utm_medium=ios

A Carnival of Sna...
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Jan 19, 2026 12:21AM

 
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Bill Hicks
“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride." And we … kill those people. "Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”
Bill Hicks

“He was astute enough to realise that ‘in a modern totalitarian system of government, there is no limit to the principle of state security, so that anyone who is in charge of it is bound to acquire almost unrestricted power.”
Callum MacDonald, The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich: The SS Butcher of Prague

David Sedaris
“If I could believe in myself, why not give other improbabilities the benefit of the doubt?”
David Sedaris, Holidays on Ice

Fran Lebowitz
“Think before you speak. Read before you think.”
Fran Lebowitz, The Fran Lebowitz Reader

Neil Gaiman
“When angels go bad they are worse than anyone else. Remember Lucifer used to be an angel.”
Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere

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