P.E.

“<...> но в этом отношении г-жа Воке имела сходство со многими людьми, которые не доверяют своим близким и отдаются в руки первого встречного, — странное психологическое явление, но оно факт, и его корни нетрудно отыскать в самой человеческой душе. Быть может, некоторые люди не в состоянии ничем снискать расположение тех, с кем они живут, и, обнаружив перед ними всю пустоту своей души, чувствуют, что окружающие втайне выносят им заслуженно суровый приговор; но в то же время такие люди испытывают непреодолимую потребность слышать похвалы себе, — а как раз этого не слышно, или же их снедает страстное желанье показать в себе достоинства, каких на самом деле у них нет, и ради этого они стремятся завоевать любовь или уважение людей им посторонних, рискуя пасть когда-нибудь и в их глазах. Наконец есть личности, своекорыстные по самой их природе: ни близким, ни друзьям они не делают добра по той причине, что это только долг; а если они оказывают услуги незнакомым, они тем самым поднимают себе цену; поэтому чем ближе стоит к ним человек, тем меньше они его любят; чем дальше он от них, тем больше их старанье услужить.”
― Honoré de Balzac, Père Goriot

“There's a reason that education sucks.
And it's the same reason
that it will never ever, ever be fixed.

It's never going to get any better,
don't look for it,
be happy with what you got.

Because the owners of this country don't want that.

I'm talking about the real owners now.
The real owners.
The big, wealthy business interests that control things
and make all the important decisions.

Forget the politicians.
The politicians are put there
to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice.

You don't.

You have no choice.
You have owners.
They own you.
They own everything.

They own all the important land.
They own and control the corporations.
They've long since bought and paid for the Senate,
the Congress, the state houses, and city halls.
They got the judges in their back pocket.
And they own all the big media companies
so they control just about
all of the news and information you get to hear.
They got you by the balls.

They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying,
lobbying to get what they want.
Well, we know what they want.
They want more for themselves and less for everybody else.

But I'll tell you what they don't want.
They don't want a population
of citizens capable of critical thinking.
They don't want well-informed, well-educated people,
capable of critical thinking.

They're not interested in that.
That doesn't help them.
That's against their interest.
That's right.

They don't want people who are smart enough
to figure out how badly they're getting fucked
by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago.
They don't want that.

You know what they want?
They want obedient workers.
Obedient workers.
People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork
and just dumb enough, to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs,
with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits,
the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension
that disappears the minute you go to collect it.

And now, they're coming for your Social Security money.
They want your fucking retirement money.
They want it back,
so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street.

And you know something, they'll get it.
They'll get it all from you, sooner or later,
because they own this fucking place.

It's a big club, and you ain't in it.
You and I are not in the big club.”
― George Carlin, Life Is Worth Losing

“A writer, or any man, must believe that whatever happens to him is an instrument; everything has been given for an end. This is even stronger in the case of the artist. Everything that happens, including humiliations, embarrassments, misfortunes, all has been given like clay, like material for one’s art. One must accept it. For this reason I speak in a poem of the ancient food of heroes: humiliation, unhappiness, discord. Those things are given to us to transform, so that we may make from the miserable circumstances of our lives things that are eternal, or aspire to be so.”
― Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Non-Fictions

“Похоже, у литературы есть лишь одно оправдание - она спасает того, кто ею занимается, от отвращения к жизни.”
― Joris-Karl Huysmans, Là-Bas