Your Favorite Quotes!

Chiomara · 02-20-2018, 12:02 AM

It is not a question of suppressing the spoken language, but of giving words approximately the importance they have in dreams.

— Antonin Artaud

It’s a dangerous thing to say what a picture is. If things get too specific, the dream stops. There are things that happen sometimes that open a door that lets you soar out and feel a bigger thing. Like when the mind gets involved in a mystery. It’s a thrilling feeling. When you talk about things, unless you’re a poet, a big thing becomes smaller.

— David Lynch

There are words we say in the dark.
There are words we speak in the light.
And sometimes they’re the same words.

— Li-Young Lee, from “The Undressing,” The American Poetry Review (vol. 47, no. 1, January/February 2018)

There’s a sorrow that’s so old and silver it’s no longer
sorry. There’s a place
between desire and memory, some back porch
we can neither wish for nor recall.

—Don McKay, from “Song for the Song of the Wood Thrush,” Angular Unconformity: Collected Poems 1970-2014

Chiomara · 03-10-2018, 03:51 AM

— Margaret Atwood, from “Speeches for Dr Frankenstein”

Chiomara · 03-11-2018, 04:44 PM

"You don’t know anyone at the party, so you don’t want to go. You don’t like cottage cheese, so you haven’t eaten it in years. This is your choice, of course, but don’t kid yourself: it’s also the flinch. Your personality is not set in stone. You may think a morning coffee is the most enjoyable thing in the world, but it’s really just a habit. Thirty days without it, and you would be fine. You think you have a soul mate, but in fact you could have had any number of spouses. You would have evolved differently, but been just as happy.
You can change what you want about yourself at any time. You see yourself as someone who can’t write or play an instrument, who gives in to temptation or makes bad decisions, but that’s really not you. It’s not ingrained. It’s not your personality. Your personality is something else, something deeper than just preferences, and these details on the surface, you can change anytime you like.

If it is useful to do so, you must abandon your identity and start again. Sometimes, it’s the only way."
— Julien Smith, The Flinch

Spoiler for indulgent rambling:

The Batlord · 03-11-2018, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiomara

"You don’t know anyone at the party, so you don’t want to go. You don’t like cottage cheese, so you haven’t eaten it in years. This is your choice, of course, but don’t kid yourself: it’s also the flinch. Your personality is not set in stone. You may think a morning coffee is the most enjoyable thing in the world, but it’s really just a habit. Thirty days without it, and you would be fine. You think you have a soul mate, but in fact you could have had any number of spouses. You would have evolved differently, but been just as happy.
You can change what you want about yourself at any time. You see yourself as someone who can’t write or play an instrument, who gives in to temptation or makes bad decisions, but that’s really not you. It’s not ingrained. It’s not your personality. Your personality is something else, something deeper than just preferences, and these details on the surface, you can change anytime you like.

If it is useful to do so, you must abandon your identity and start again. Sometimes, it’s the only way."
— Julien Smith, The Flinch

Spoiler for indulgent rambling:

If anyone can change their life on a whim like that then they probably have a serious mood or personality disorder.

Chiomara · 03-11-2018, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

If anyone can change their life on a whim like that then they probably have a serious mood or personality disorder.

Well, yeah, that's probably true somewhat. (Which clearly means that I am a shining paragon of mental health in comparison!) My mother definitely has some sort of diagnosed mood disorder and she switches jobs (and boyfriends, and fad diets) every 6 weeks pretty much.

The Batlord · 03-11-2018, 05:19 PM

TBH if you can't develop an emotional connection with your current life that makes you reticent to change it then that might very well speak to your ability to create stable relationships in general.

Not that I'm casting stones, as my reticence is more fear based than connection based.

Chiomara · 03-11-2018, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

TBH if you can't develop an emotional connection with your current life that makes you reticent to change it then that might very well speak to your ability to create stable relationships in general.

Not that I'm casting stones, as my reticence is more fear based than connection based.

Right; that thing in particular is a hallmark of Borderline personality disorder, (partly due to attachment issues in childhood + parents that were wildly inconsistent in terms of their emotional availability? Or whatever) I think. When it's connection based, anyway. Fear based reticence and/or just general cautionary avoidance is perfectly normal I'd imagine. Mine is about half and half I'd say.
(I was going to say it often feels like I have that "impostor syndrome" thing-- but that only traditionally applies to successful people, which I am not. But there's the constant fear that if I aimed a bit higher in life, it would work out okay at first, but then soon enough everyone would suddenly realize that I am an inherently Bad and incompetent goblin that merely managed to temporarily fool everyone/weasel my way in and then they'd chase me out of town with pitchforks and I'd be left with nothing.)

The Batlord · 03-11-2018, 07:34 PM

Props on being able to think that anyone would be able to even temporarily think you could be successful.

Chiomara · 03-11-2018, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Props on being able to think that anyone would be able to even temporarily think you could be successful.

The Batlord · 03-11-2018, 09:52 PM

I'm honestly looking at my post, thinking that it must have had nicer context, cause I really don't remember exactly my intent, but Jesus Christ that is one hell of a burn. I'm sorry you had to feel that but god damn I scorched myself with that one.

I swear to god I probably didn't quite mean that like it came out though. Maybe.

02-20-2018, 12:02 AM	#251 (permalink)
Chiomara mayor of spookytown Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 812	It is not a question of suppressing the spoken language, but of giving words approximately the importance they have in dreams. — Antonin Artaud It’s a dangerous thing to say what a picture is. If things get too specific, the dream stops. There are things that happen sometimes that open a door that lets you soar out and feel a bigger thing. Like when the mind gets involved in a mystery. It’s a thrilling feeling. When you talk about things, unless you’re a poet, a big thing becomes smaller. — David Lynch There are words we say in the dark. There are words we speak in the light. And sometimes they’re the same words. — Li-Young Lee, from “The Undressing,” The American Poetry Review (vol. 47, no. 1, January/February 2018) There’s a sorrow that’s so old and silver it’s no longer sorry. There’s a place between desire and memory, some back porch we can neither wish for nor recall. —Don McKay, from “Song for the Song of the Wood Thrush,” Angular Unconformity: Collected Poems 1970-2014 __________________ Χρυσοσανδαλαιμοποτιχθονία Tumblr - 8tracks - Spotify

03-10-2018, 03:51 AM	#252 (permalink)
Chiomara mayor of spookytown Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 812	— Margaret Atwood, from “Speeches for Dr Frankenstein” __________________ Χρυσοσανδαλαιμοποτιχθονία Tumblr - 8tracks - Spotify

03-11-2018, 04:44 PM	#253 (permalink)
Chiomara mayor of spookytown Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 812	"You don’t know anyone at the party, so you don’t want to go. You don’t like cottage cheese, so you haven’t eaten it in years. This is your choice, of course, but don’t kid yourself: it’s also the flinch. Your personality is not set in stone. You may think a morning coffee is the most enjoyable thing in the world, but it’s really just a habit. Thirty days without it, and you would be fine. You think you have a soul mate, but in fact you could have had any number of spouses. You would have evolved differently, but been just as happy. You can change what you want about yourself at any time. You see yourself as someone who can’t write or play an instrument, who gives in to temptation or makes bad decisions, but that’s really not you. It’s not ingrained. It’s not your personality. Your personality is something else, something deeper than just preferences, and these details on the surface, you can change anytime you like. If it is useful to do so, you must abandon your identity and start again. Sometimes, it’s the only way." — Julien Smith, The Flinch Spoiler for indulgent rambling: I think about this one a lot; I know all this to be true, but I'm seemingly only able to permanently change things during very narrow windows of time (ones which I can neither force nor predict) and if I miss them, I remain stuck in a cycle (one step forward, two steps vaguely sideways and then just straight off a cliff) that no amount of epiphanies or life-altering traumas can sever, oscillating endlessly between opposite extremes in an attempt to find the middle point between the two burning towers of wreckage that make up my outer persona and my actual personality+hilariously ineffective coping mechanisms. __________________ Χρυσοσανδαλαιμοποτιχθονία Tumblr - 8tracks - Spotify