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Tag Archives: Salman Rushdie

Words We Live By

07 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by Smaktakula in Culture, Entertainment, History

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

America--Fuck Yeah!, Bob Dylan, Cormac McCarthy, Edgar Lee Masters, Friederich Nietzsche, Les Miserables, No Country For Old Men, Pearl Harbor, Primo Levi, quotations, Richard Adams, Salman Rushdie, Spoon River Anthology, Survival in Auschwitz, the Exodus, the Greatest Generation, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, The Reivers, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Victor Hugo, Watership Down, William Faulkner, Winston Churchill, You Jivin' Me Turkey?

By Tardsie

You Won’t Find The Really Good Ones In Here.

We very much appreciate a piece of well-expressed wisdom. For this reason among so many others, we have continued to compile over the years a collection of quotations which not only inspire us, but inform the philosophy which has thus far guided us through a life which has been pretty damn awesome.

Taking our inspiration from Bad Brad, the eccentrically eclectic force behind You Jivin’ Me Turkey?, who never fails to find powerfully affecting–and largely unfamiliar–quotations, we’d like to start your weekend with some of the passages that figure most centrally in our own lives. And just as our lives are improved in some measure by the unexpected wisdom curated by folks like Brad, we hope that you will find something in what follows which speaks to your own journey. Have a great weekend, folks!

This Is An Actual Photo Of Brad. He Has A Condition Which Makes Him Look Like An Animated Character. Don’t Make Fun.

***

The Big Questions

For what is it all but being hatched,
And running about the yard,
To the day of the block?
Save that a man has an angel’s brain,
And sees the ax from the first!
Edgar Lee Masters

The Difference Between The Two Of You Is That You See The End Coming. So Why Not Live It The Best You Can?

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.
Victor Hugo

***

There Is No Ordinary Life

And like a dying star is every work of your virtue: its light is always still on its way and it wanders —  And when will light no longer be on its way?  Thus the light of your virtue is still on its way even when the work has been done.  Though it be forgotten and dead, the ray of its light still lives and wanders.  That your virtue is your self and not something foreign, a skin, a cloak, that is the truth from the foundation of your soul, you who are virtuous.
Friedreich Nietzsche

***

People don’t like being around despair.  Our tolerance for the truly hopeless, for those who are irremediably broken by life, is strictly limited.  The sob stories we like are the ones that end before we’re bored.  I understood that I had good and true friends in these three men, that it was all for one and one for all and these were my musketeers.  I also saw that I needed to behave better for their sakes.  I had become their nagging toothache, their dose of gut-rot, their ulcer.  I needed to get better before they decided to cure themselves of me.
If friendship is a fuel, the supply of it is not endless.
Salman Rushdie

***

I knew growing up that I wanted to do something different than anybody else.  I wanted to do something that no one else did or could do, and I wanted to do it better than anyone else had.  I didn’t know where that was going to lead me, but where it did lead me was to folk music at a time when it was totally off the radar screen.
Bob Dylan

***

Meeting Adversity

Defeat is one thing; disgrace is another.
Winston Churchill

The Main Reason Winston Churchill Was Able To Achieve Renown As One Of History’s Greatest Englishmen Was That He Was Half-American.

A gentleman can live through anything.  He faces anything.  A gentleman accepts the responsibility of his actions and bears the burden of their consequences, even when he did not himself instigate them but only acquiesced to them, didn’t say No though he knew he should.
William Faulkner

***

I’m determined to stand whether God will deliver me or not.
Bob Dylan

***

Strange, how in some way one always has the impression of being fortunate, how some chance happening, perhaps infinitesimal, stops us crossing the threshold of despair and allows us to live.
Primo Levi

So Buck Up, Pussy!

You Can’t Know Everything, And Why Would You Want To?

And Frith called after him, ‘El-ahrairah, your people cannot rule the world, for I will not have it so.  All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and wherever they catch you, they will kill you.  But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning.  Be cunning and full of tricks and your people will never be destroyed.’
Richard Adams

We Always Thought Watership Down Was About A Bunch Of Rabbits.

For My Grandfather, Who Lucked Out Of Pearl Harbor And Felt Like A Fraud For It

I didn’t know you could steal your own life.  And I didn’t know that it would bring you no more benefit than about anything else you might steal.  I think I done the best with it I knew how, but it still wasn’t mine.  It never has been.
Cormac McCarthy

We Know That Forgiving Yourself Was Never Going To Happen. Remember, Though–For Those Who Loved You, It Wasn’t A Betrayal But A Miracle.

And yes, we know the title of this post should more properly be written ‘The Words By Which We Live,’ but that sounds stuffy. Grammar nerd. ∞T.

Valentine’s Day: Embrace The Heartache

14 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by Smaktakula in Culture

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Bugs Moran, Hallmark Cards, Hallmark Holidays, love, profligate spending, Salman Rushdie, true meanings of holidays, unconditional love, Valentine's Day, Why am I so lonely?

By Smaktakula

You Think You Do, Anyway.

Except for malodorous, house-bound misanthropes, no one wants to be alone. Humans are social creatures who seek comfort in the company of their fellows. Romantic love is particularly cherished, with lonely hearts sinking billions into online matchmaking services in the hopes of bringing at last to an end their soul-crushing isolation. The depths of humanity’s reverence for the emotion are so pronounced that fantastically ridiculous abilities are attributed to love, such as its apparent tendency to make the world go ’round or that ‘love is all you need.’ Love makes us stupid, and we like it.

You CAN Put A Price On Love. It's About 3,000 Hail Marys.

Valentine’s Day, February 14th, has been set aside to honor this most beloved of emotions. And like love itself, the holiday exerts a dizzying power over the senses, often leading to anxiety, despair and weight-gain. With all this going for it, who doesn’t love Valentine’s Day?

Lots of people, as it turns out. Those untouchables not fortunate enough to be in relationships despise the day, as it is a painful reminder of their empty, joyless lives, into which the light of fulfilment never shines. People in relationships likewise hate the holiday. Is it not enough, they reason, to eat meals, watch television and occasionally copulate with this barely tolerable person, without having to spend oneself broke attempting to bolster their self-esteem? Plenty of people have a beef with Valentine’s Day.

But given that the holiday has not only survived into modern times, but actually thrived, clearly, someone appreciates the annual homage to love.  So who does love Valentine’s Day? These guys:

The Love You Earn Is The Cash You Burn.

You know who else hates Valentine’s Day? Salman Rushdie and Bugs Moran. ∞ T.

This Day In History: February 14, 1989 CE

14 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by Smaktakula in Culture, History, Politics, Religion

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, censorship, douchebaggery, douchey theocrats, fatwa, February 14, Iran, religious intolerance, Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses, theocratic cultural backwaters, this day in history, those wacky mullahs!, your feelings > freedom of expression

On which douchey theocrat Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini vociferously expresses his displeasure with Salman Rushdie‘s The Satanic Verses. The tactic proves so popular that it remains the Islamic community’s preferred method to redress grievances both real and imagined.

"Okay, First Of All, I'd Like To Thank Everybody For Coming. I Know You All Had To Take Time Out Of Your Busy Lives, But It's Great You Could Be Here. A Couple Of Special Mentions Before I Forget: Thanks To Faisal And Mohammad For Donating The Envelopes. Also, Everybody Remember To Thank Ibrahim's Boss For Letting Us Use The Stamp Machine. Okay, Let's Get Down To Business: Remember, When Writing The Publisher To Express Your Hurt Feelings, Be Firm But Polite. After All, We Don't Want To Sound Like A Bunch Of Crazies, Am I Right, Guys?"

We, the public, are easily, lethally offended.  We have come to think of taking offence as a fundamental right.  We value very little more highly than our rage, which gives us, in our opinion, the moral high ground.  From this high ground we can shoot down at our enemies and inflict heavy fatalities.  We take pride in our short fuses.  Our anger elevates, transcends.
Salman Rushdie

Rushdie Calls Amnesty ‘Morally Bankrupt’

23 Tuesday Feb 2010

Posted by Smaktakula in Europe, General Foolishness, Human Rights, Islam, Middle East, Religion, Terrorism, World Affairs

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Amnesty International, Ayatollah Khomeini, fatwa, Guantanamo Bay, Iran, Nelson Mandela, Salman Rushdie, Taliban, The Satanic Verses

 It’s sad, really, because back when Amnesty International enjoyed a consistent moral philosophy, it joined the international community in pressuring Iran not to kill author Salman Rushdie.  To be fair, the Ayatollah Khomeini did have a legitimate grievance–Mr. Rushdie wrote a book.  Around that same time, Amnesty International was keeping international attention on the plight of then-political prisoner Nelson Mandela.

For several years, however, Amnesty International seems to be losing its way.  Recovering alcoholics often say that a person must first hit “rock bottom” before beginning the road to recovery.  Perhaps this point marks the nadir in the once-great human rights organization’s history, and that Rushdie’s assertion will be a challenge to Amnesty to pick itself back up and begin the long, arduous work of repairing its reputation and mission.

Or, perhaps Amnesty will issue its first-ever fatwa. 

Read it before SR goes back into witness-relocation:Salman Rushdie: Amnesty International is morally bankrupt – Times Online.

Smaktakula

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