Achuthan

“General, your tank is a powerful vehicle
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.

General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.

General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.”
― Bertolt Brecht

“No one should be alone in their old age, he thought. But it is unavoidable.

It was too good to last.

If there is a hurricane you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead, if you are at sea. They do not see it ashore because they do not know what to look for.

It is silly not to hope. Besides I believe it is a sin.
Do not think about sin, he thought. There are enough problems now without sin. Also, I have no understanding of it. … and I am not sure that I believe in it. Perhaps it was a sin to kill the fish. I suppose it was even though I did it to keep me alive and feed many people. But then everything is a sin. Do not think about sin. It is much too late for that and there are people who are paid to do it. Let them think about it. You were born to be a fisherman as the fish was born to be a fish.
....
You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?

Everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive.

“Don’t think, old man,” he said aloud. “Sail on this course and take it when it comes. But I must think, he thought. Because it is all I have left.

It is easy when you are beaten, he thought. I never knew how easy it was. And what beat you, he thought. “Nothing,” he said aloud. “I went out too far.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the sea

“Don't tell me the sky's the limit when I know there are footprints on the moon”
― Paul Brandt

“Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there's footprints on the moon.”
― Paul Brandt