35 books
—
13 voters
“The Paradox of Progress We live in an interesting time in that, materially, things are arguably better than they have ever been before, yet we all seem to be losing our minds thinking the world is one giant toilet bowl about to be flushed. An irrational sense of hopelessness is spreading across the rich, developed world. It’s a paradox of progress: the better things get, the more anxious and desperate we all seem to feel.”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“So, instead of looking for hope, try this:
Don't hope.
Don't despair, either.
In fact, don't deign to believe you know anything. It's that assumption of knowing with such blind, fervent, emotional certainty that gets us into these kinds of pickles in the first place.
Don't hope for better. Just be better.
Be something better. Be more compassionate, more resilient, more humble, more disciplined. [...]
Be a better human.”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
Don't hope.
Don't despair, either.
In fact, don't deign to believe you know anything. It's that assumption of knowing with such blind, fervent, emotional certainty that gets us into these kinds of pickles in the first place.
Don't hope for better. Just be better.
Be something better. Be more compassionate, more resilient, more humble, more disciplined. [...]
Be a better human.”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“To build and maintain hope, we need three things: a sense of control, a belief in the value of something, and a community. 32 “Control” means we feel as though we’re in control of our own life, that we can affect our fate. “Values” means we find something important enough to work toward, something better, that’s worth striving for. And “community” means we are part of a group that values the same things we do and is working toward achieving those things. Without a community, we feel isolated, and our values cease to mean anything. Without values, nothing appears worth pursuing. And without control, we feel powerless to pursue anything. Lose any of the three, and you lose the other two. Lose any of the three, and you lose hope.”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“Evolution rewards the most powerful creatures, and power is determined by the ability to access, harness, and manipulate information effectively.”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
“Freedom itself demands discomfort. It demands dissatisfaction. Because the freer a society becomes, the more each person will be forced to reckon and compromise with views and lifestyles and ideas that conflict with their own. The lower our tolerance for pain, the more we indulge in fake freedoms, the less we will be able to uphold the virtues necessary to allow a free, democratic society to function.”
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
― Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
Gwen’s 2025 Year in Books
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