Dreaming Though Awake

“Democracy basically means: Government by the people, of the people, for the people.... but the people are retarded.”
― Osho, آفتاب در سایه

“There is no clearer illustration of the importance of ideas to politics than the emergence of an Arab state under the Prophet Muhammad. The Arab tribes played an utterly marginal role in world history until that point; it was only Muhammad’s charismatic authority that allowed them to unify and project their power throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The tribes had no economic base to speak of; they gained economic power through the interaction of religious ideas and military organization, and then were able to take over agricultural societies that did produce surpluses.”
― Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution

“The act of taking is equally evil. We, from the moment of birth, continue to take. Food, connections, even fellow blood. Living to the utmost. Continuing to slaughter, kill, take. Life is to constantly sin. Life is evil itself. I am aware I am evil…. And so are you all. Now, come kill me and, I shall do the same.”
― Yoshimura

“Silent, unseen, small cousin of death,
Born this instant, closer than breath,
Killer of thought, assassin of dreams,
Memory's surgeon, the end of your schemes.”
― Michael Swanwick, The Iron Dragon's Daughter