Freedom cannot be selfish.

To declare oneself free is to promise to act such that others can be free.

We must imagine a society of free people and try to build it.

Morally, logically, and politically, there is no freedom without solidarity.

It is logically incoherent, morally obtuse, and politically ineffective to claim freedom only for oneself. That is choosing the isolation that tyrants would have chosen for us.

Without solidarity, we will be fooled.

And we will fool ourselves.

In catastrophic times, oligarchs divert resources from the human struggle to live free and direct them toward the dumb delusion that a chosen few can flee.

If freedom is about the future, we must work together to keep it open.

Timothy Snyder, On Freedom

According to Lao-tse, the more man interferes with the natural balance produced and governed by universal laws, the further away harmony retreats into the distance.

The more forcing, the more trouble.

Whether heavy or light, wet or dry, fast or slow, everything has its own nature already within it, which cannot be violated without causing difficulties.

When abstract and arbitrary rules are imposed from the outside, struggle is inevitable.

Only then does life become sour.

The world is not a setter of traps but a teacher of valuable lessons.

Its lessons need to be learned, just as its laws need to be followed. Then all would go well.

Rather than turn away from “the world of dust,” Lao-tse advises to “join the dust of the world.”

A basic principle of Lao-tse’s teaching is that this Way of the Universe cannot be adequately described in words, and that it would be insulting both to its unlimited power and to the intelligent human mind to attempt to do so.

Still, its nature can be understood.

And those who care the most about it, and the life from which it is inseparable, understand it best.

Benjamin Hoff, Tao Of Pooh

The opposite of esprit d’escalier is the way that life’s embarrassments come back to haunt us even after they’re long past.

I could remember every stupid thing I’d ever said or done, recall them with picture-perfect clarity.

Any time I was feeling low, I’d naturally start to remember other times I felt that way, a hit parade of humiliations coming one after another to my mind.

There’s an alternative to dwelling on your mistakes.

You can learn from them.

It’s a good theory, anyway.

Maybe the reason your subconscious dredges up all these miserable ghosts is that they need to get closure before they can rest peacefully in humiliation afterlife.

Cory Doctorow, Little Brother

If I am walking up the flank of a mountain, I might first see a lake, and then, after a few steps, a forest.

I have to choose between the lake and the forest.

If I want to see both the lake and the forest, I have to climb higher.

Simone Weil

Isn’t the knowledge that comes from experience more valuable than the knowledge that doesn’t?

It seems fairly obvious to some of us that a lot of scholars need to go outside and sniff around.

Walk through the grass, talk to the animals.

“Lots of people talk to animals,” said Pooh.

“Maybe, but . . .”

“Not very many listen, though,” he said.

“That’s the problem,” he added.

Pooh Te Tao