T J

“am not using wonderful as a blank superlative. I mean, actually, they are full of wonder: they wonder about things, they themselves are a wonder, they produce wonders. When you ask such a person a question, you get something back that was already yours, something you had forgotten—or you get something new, something you have never encountered. In a moment it is an old friend. Really we are all like this, can all be like this. It is only our sad grasping protectiveness that makes us monsters.”
― Jesse Ball, Autoportrait

“The surest way to keep a problem from being solved is to deny that problem exists. Telling people not to complain is a way of keeping social issues from being addressed. It trivializes the grievances of the vulnerable, making the burdened feel like burdens. Telling people not to complain is an act of power, a way of asserting that one's position is more important than another one's pain. People who say "stop complaining" always have the right to stop listening. But those who complain have often been denied the right to speak.”
― Sarah Kendzior, The View From Flyover Country: Essays by Sarah Kendzior

“SOLEMNLY OVER THE FERTILE LAND Solemnly over the fertile land The brief and futile white cloud passes, And for a black instant the fields are touched By a cold breeze. So too in my soul the slow thought soars And darkens my mind, but I, like the field That returns to itself, return to the day, The surface of life. 31 MAY 1927”
― Fernando Pessoa, Fernando Pessoa & Co.: Selected Poems

“There was no effect when non-political claims were challenged, but countering political positions triggered their amygdala. That’s the same part of the brain that’s activated when a tiger attacks you, inducing a ‘fight-or-flight’ response. People respond to opposing views as if they’re being chased by a wild animal. The amygdala overrides the prefrontal cortex, the rational part of the brain.”
― Alex Edmans, May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases - And What We Can Do About It