The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or be so dependent upon its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.
[The Rothschild Brothers of London writing to associates in New York, June 25, 1863. They are talking about credit and interest rates here obviously.]

 

Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.

 

What makes a man a man?
A friend of mine once wondered.
Is it his origins, the way he comes to life?
I don't think so.
It's the choices he makes, not how he starts things,
but how he decides to end them.
[Hellboy, last few spoken words in the movie]

 

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
. [St. Augustine]

 

All we have to do to be happy is love what we have.
 

 

Fate was something unsuccessful people invented in order to blame their unsuccessfulness on something they couldn't control.
[SilverPhoenix25]

 

We go where we need to go,
and then try to figure out what we're doing there.
[Jeff Greenwald, Shopping for Buddhas]

 

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
[Mark Twain]

 

Find out who you are - and do it on purpose.

Das Leben [...] ist nicht nur eine wilde, schöne Reise. Leben, das heißt auch: dem Tod bei der Arbeiz zuzusehen. Das ist das Härteste überhaupt! Das muß man aushalten können.
[Zeit in Wilde Reise durch die Nacht von Walter Moers]

 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
[Methos in Highlander, S5 Ep9 - The Messenger]

 

Joe: And I suppose you would know just what do do?
Methos: Oh yeah. Standard response to unforseen dilemmas perfected over many centuries.
Duncan: What?
Methos: Nothing!
[Highlander, S5 Ep9 - The Messenger]

 

... when I realized, I had no longer the energy to be completely superficial.
[Carrie in Sex and the City, S1 Ep2 - Models and Mortals]

 

All you have to decide, is what to do with the time that is given to you.
[Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien, 1st Movie]

 

Life is not the amount of breaths you take,
it's the moments that take your breath away..
[aus dem Film: Die Kinder des Monsieur Matthieu]

 

I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer.
[Douglas Adams]

 

If you don't have enemies, you don't have characters.
[Paul Newmann]

 

I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.
[Lee Cummings]

 

I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on, I go into another room and read a good book.
[Groucho Marx]

 

The main difference between a wise man and a fool is that the fool's mistakes never teach him anything.
[Duncan McLeod in Highlander S2 Ep8 - The Revenge of the Sword]

 

Sometimes the people we meet change us forever.

 

Marriage has less beauty, but more safety than a single life.
It's full of sorrows and full of joys.
It lies under more burdens,
but it is supported by all the strenghts of love.
And those burdens are delightful..
[Bishop, 16. Jh.]

 

My advice to you is to get married: if you find a good wife you'll be happy: if not, you'll become a philosopher.
[Socrates]

 

Love is to be found easly, the hard thing is to find someone who deserves it!

For scientific leadership, give me Scott;
for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen;
but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems to be no way out,
get on your knees and pray for Shackleton.
[Sir Raymond Priestley]

 

The greatest assets somebody could have is people who believe in them.

 

If you are going to do it, do it right!

 

Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
[das hat bestimmt auch schon vor mir jemand gesagt.]
[Somebody certainly has said this before me as well]

 

Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.
[Doug Lawson]

 

 

Du weißt nicht, wie die Blumen duften,
Weil Du nur Arbeit kennst und schuften.
Und so vergehen die schönsten Jahre,
Dann liegst Du plötzlich auf der Bahre.
Und hinter Dir, da grinst der Tod,
Kaputt geschuftet, Du Idiot!
[Poesiespruch, den ich früher öfters mal bei Freunden eingetragen habe]

 

Wir sind hier, um zu leben, nicht um zu überleben!
[unbekannter Azteke]

 

I want to achieve immortality trough not dying!
[das hat bestimmt auch schon vor mir jemand gesagt.]
[Somebody certainly has said this before me as well]

 

Die Selbstorganisation ist eines der Grundprinzipien für Strukturbildung und Wachstum in der Natur.
[Andreas Hoffknecht, Technologieberater für den VDI]

 

Es gibt Dinge im Leben, die man macht oder nicht macht. Und wenn, dann mit größter Wahrscheinlichkeit nur einmal, und wenn, dann mit Sicherheit das erstemal, z.B. die Unschuld verlieren oder eine Diplomarbeit schreiben.
Der zeitweilige und durchaus auch seelische Zustand „ich schreibe eine Diplomarbeit“ hat fremd- und eigenbeobachtermaßen spürbare psychologische Charakteristik und eine damit verbundene, zum Teil seltsame Eigendynamik.
Die Sache mit der Unschuld ist dem Schreiben einer Diplomarbeit weiß Gott ähnlich.
[Prof. Dr. Rainer Ortleb, Bundesbildungsminister a.D.]

 

Below the 40th latitude there is no law;
below the 50th no god;
below the 60th no common sense
and below the 70th no intelligence whatsoever.
[Kim Stanley Robinson]

 

Human beings are consistent in their codes of honor but endlessly fickle with reference to whom the codes apply. It is human nature to make interpersonal commitments that are absolute to the very moment that we break them.

 

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
[T. S. Eliot]

 

"The best thing for being sad", replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn."
[T. H. White, The Once and Future King]

 

Die Technologie ist eine unabhängige Variable der irdischen Zivilisation, deren Verlauf nicht vom Willen des Einzelnen bestimmt wird.
[Stanislaw Lem]

 

Love seems simple, but, of course, isn't. Following the course of love - desire, passion, consummation, devotion - seems natural, or as if it ought to be, but that doesn't make it easy. I've seen the results of love gone sour, turned to sickness and bitterness and hatred. And love is everyone's favorite excuse for the worst kinds of repugnant behavior. Not everything that's natural is good, is it?

 

"My boy, there are things that money can't buy,' but you'd be surprised how old I was before I saw any evidence of that."
The other shrugged. "I never inherited anything from my ancestors that I valued more than my life."

 

Good and evil are only perceptions – the true meaning changes with every person you meet, so it doesn't really matter all that much. The only thing that does matter, that doesn't change is Power. If you don't get what you want, you go after it relentlessly until you do.

 

Telling the truth to people who misunderstand you is generally promoting a falsehood, isn't it?
[A. Hope]

 

That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.

 

People's whole lives do pass in front of their eyes before they die. The process is called 'living'.
[Death in Terry Pratchett's The Last Continent]

 

In my dream, the angel shrugged and said if we fail this time it will be a failure of imagination and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.
[Storypeople, Imagining World]

 

".... If I were pressed to give one reason, one specific observation of why the life in Nepal seems so much more vivid than life anywhere else, I would answer with a single word: time. There is a quality to time spent in Nepal that can only be described as inhalant. [...]
In Nepal [...] Time is a stick of incense that burns without being consumed. One day can seem like a week; a week, like months. Mornings stretch out and crack their spines with the yogic impassivity of house cats. Afternoons bulge with a succulent ripeness, like fat peaches. There is time enough to do everything - write a letter, eat breakfast, read the newspaper, visit a shrine or two, listen to the birds, bicycle downtown, change money, buy postcards, shop for Buddhas - and arrive home in time for lunch."
[Jeff Greenwald, Shopping for Buddhas]

 

Every time you manage to close the door on Reality, it comes in through the window.

 

Zwei Dinge sind unendlich, das Universum und die menschliche Dummheit; aber bei dem Universum bin ich mir noch nicht ganz sicher.
[Albert Einstein]

 

As time transcends, you sit alone in your room. You ask yourself... “Exactly why was I put here on earth?” You snicker a little bit, pondering the thought. The more you think about, the less comprehensible it becomes. It is imperative that you understand, there are infinite numbers of people that were put on the Earth for the same reason. To live. People ask, “What's the meaning of life?” I personally, believe there is NO meaning of life. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if everything was just in imaginary illusion, processed deeply in our barren minds. If there is a meaning of life, was it intended to be left unknown. Left in the shadow, traceless. Or is it there to drive Philosophers and human beings insane, yearning for that grateful answer.
[Q. Terentino]

 

Meine Meinung steht fest - bitte verwirren Sie mich nicht mit Tatsachen.

 

Ideologen sind scharfe Denker, die sich durch Tatsachen nicht beirren lassen.
[Carlo Franchi]

 

I'm an idealist: I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.
[Carl Sandburg]

 

Vertrauen ist das Gefühl, einem Menschen sogar dann glauben zu können, wenn man weiß, daß man an seiner Stelle lügen würde.
[Jenry Louis Mencken]

 

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle Everything is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together, stories and compassion.
[Barry Lopez]

 

It's like a finger, pointing at the moon. if you stare at the finger, you miss all the heavenly glory.
[Bruce Lee , Enter the Dragon]

 

You have two ears and only one mouth for a reason.
[Buddhist Belief]

 

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
[Henry David Thoreau, Walden]

 

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way.
[Christopher Morley, 20. Jh.]

 

There's no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day
[Alexander Woolcott]

 

It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd...Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death...and yet...I think...this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
[Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank]

 

Fantasy is a necessary ingrediant in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.
[Dr. Suess]

 

Obstacles are those frightful things we see when we take our eyes off our goal.
[Henry Ford]

 

I saw the errors I had made and assumed full responsibility for everything. You know, instead of being a man who would say, ‘Well, it's a rotten system we live under,' and griping about politics, economics and the social condition, I said, ‘Despite all that, I could have acted differently, I could have come out,' do you see? And I saw that as being the fault of my own nature, character and temperament. I accepted it, and once I did that, a great weight fell off me. I was liberated. I was able to really enjoy myself.
[Henry Miller]

 

Time: that which man is always tring to kill, ends in killing him.
[Herbert Spencer]

 

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
[Lao Tzu]

 

The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does, what problems this really solves.
[Ludwig Wittgenstein]

 

"According to the Buddha, these are all signs of a false identity: fear, attachment, shame, compulsion and rigidity. Hmmm. I feel like if I didn't have these things, I'd never clean my house. What's up with that?"
[Nerissa Nields]

 

To cross the river of boredom, one must first, hop onto the stone of imagination.
[Rensouken]

 

When I became convinced that the universe is natural, that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell. The dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world, not even in infinite space. I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live my own ideal, free to live for myself and those I loved, free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination's wings, free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope, free to judge and determine for myself . . . I was free!
[Robert G. Ingersoll]

 

There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.
[Yamamoto Tsunetomo]

 

Was ist Keramik?
"Die Kunst der keramischen Fertigung ist ein System, in dem Materialien mit veränderlicher Zusammensetzung in zweifelhafter Reinheit einer nicht meßbaren Wärmebehandlung ausgesetzt werden, die lange genug dauert, um unbekannte Reaktionen unvollständig ablaufen zu lassen, wobei sich heterogene nichtstöchiometrische Körper bilden, die als Keramik bekannt sind."
[J. W.]

 

It is never the fall that kills - it's the sudden stop at the end!
[about climbing - quote taken from this page]

 

Wir müssen die Reise um die Welt machen und sehen, ob das Paradies vielleicht von hinten irgendwo wieder offen ist.
[Heinrich von Kleist]

 

Frage: In American Gods geht es um den Kampf der alten, aus der Mode gekommenen, europäischen Götter gegen die Götter der amerikanischen Moderne. Üben Sie damit auch Kritik am Werteverfall in der amerikanischen Gesellschaft? Ist es Zufall, dass Ihr Buch in eine Zeit fällt, in der grundlegende Differenzen zwischen dem »alten Europa« und der Neuen Welt auftreten?

Neil Gaiman: Es ist zumindest der Versuch, über Dinge zu reden, die man besser in Bilder und Metaphern fasst. Und auf die Art zum Beispiel deutlich zu machen, wie jung die amerikanische Gesellschaft ist und wie sehr sie sich mit sich selbst beschäftigt. In dem Zusammenhang ist es wichtig zu wissen, dass für Amerika andere Standpunkte einfach nicht zählen. American Gods stellt meine Sichtweise dar, was die Leser daraus machen, ist ihre Sache.

Frage: Die neuen Götter erobern nicht nur Amerika, sondern auch den Rest der Welt. Die alten Götter sind scheinbar auch in Europa vom Aussterben bedroht. Hätte American Gods auch in Europa spielen können?

Neil Gaiman: Eigentlich nicht. In Europa ist die Vergangenheit überall gegenwärtig und es gibt einen viel ausgeprägteren Sinn für Traditionen. Ich hätte vielleicht trotzdem ein Buch über alte und neue Götter in Europa schreiben können, aber ohne diese in die Zukunft gerichtete Dringlichkeit.