Weekly silver

[Mallos]

I want to hear interesting quotes. The most interesting quote will earn my silver coin in 2 days.

[Aleph Null]

"There is nothing permanent except change."

[DARK DEMON]

"This is space. It does not cooperate. There will come a point where everything's gonna go south on you and you're gonna say 'this is it, this is how I end'. Now you can either accept that or you can get to work. You just begin. You do the math and solve one problem. Then the next problem, and the next, and if you solve enough problems you get to come home."

 

I often replace the word 'space' with 'life' and it helps me a lot. You never know how much is 'enough' until you actually put in the effort. You must begin without any certainty that everything will work according to plan, and if you manage to do so then you will be rewarded for it I guarantee you. You don't have to solve every problem; you can't solve every problem. But making the effort on what you CAN solve.... that's the difference between those who succeed and add to society, and those who just leech from it.

[Tissy]

”stay unchanged to face the changing conditions."

It's Chinese ancient Tao philosophy.  

 

“Bunny doesn't eat grass near its cave." It's interesting because in China it's usually quoted to express one's willing NOT to pick boyfriend/girlfriend among his/her close friends. 

[Azull]

“This is the awe-inspiring universe of magic: There are no atoms, only waves and motions all around. Here, you discard all belief in barriers to understanding. You put aside understanding itself. This universe cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be detected in any way by fixed perceptions. It is the ultimate void where no preordained screens occur upon which forms may be projected. You have only one awareness here—the screen of the magi: Imagination! Here, you learn what it is to be human. You are a creator of order, of beautiful shapes and systems, an organizer of chaos.”

[Chewett]

"It wasn't by eliminating the impossible that you got at the truth, however improbable; it was by the much harder process of eliminating the possibilities. You worked away, patiently asking questions and looking hard at things. You walked and talked, and in your heart you just hoped like hell that some bugger's nerve'd crack and he'd give himself up." - Sam Vimes

[Aelis]

“What I am in search of is not so much the gratification of a curiosity or a passion for worldly life, but something far less conditional. I do not wish to go out into the world with an insurance policy in my pocket guaranteeing my return in the event of a disappointment, like some cautious traveller who would be content with a brief glimpse of the world. On the contrary, I desire that there should be hazards, difficulties and dangers to face; I am hungry for reality, for tasks and deeds, and also for privation and suffering.” - Hermann Hesse

[Lazarus]

"waka waka waka waka wak... awaka waka..."

- Pac-Man

[MaGoHi]

"Ara ara"

[Aleph Null]

"All of us have two lifes.
The other one starts when we realise we only have one."

[jakubhi]

"You don´t look so tough."

[Miq]

Quote

And then not so wide men fill the pantheon of heaven with hierarchies of angels and set the plagues of man on horseback and write down the dimensions of Heaven in which to imprison the lord of infinite space. The stories begin to choke the system

--T. Pratchett

[Mallos]

Azull wins the silver! Particularly amusing I find the bit about imagination. Honorable mention to Chewett's quote.

Now I want to hear some thoughts about a word, maybe what could be good or bad about what it describes, whatever you deem necessary to tell. Most interesting or insightful wins my silver coin in 7 days

Schadenfreude
 

[Mallos]

This will be a weekly thing as long as I can continue to collect those activity coins. Anyways I too dislike my last challenge but I came up with it on the fly after seeing the word. I  cancel that and issue a new one:

I want to see your favorite poems, it can be your poem or quoted elsewhere. The best will earn my silver coin.

“I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow;
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When Sorrow walked with me.”

― Robert Browning Hamilton

[Chewett]

Desiderata

GO PLACIDLY amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

By Max Ehrmann © 1927
Original text

[Muratus del Mur]

I just want to say i find it beautiful that you do this with your "weekly coin", as you called it. This is so much in the spirit of MD that you give what you earn.

[Sunfire]

In Flanders fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Major John McCrae – 1915

[Steno]

It's really long. Sorry.

The Pain of Inspiration's Joy by me

What is it about pain?

That it seems necessary for

the realization of true expression.

Is it just the epitome of the saying:

“All good things come with a price”?

With pain, or suffering, the price

and beautiful words and moving pieces the things?

Is it that pain is the key

to a door deep within our beings;

a door, which behind, is that very

essence of human nature which we all have,

the essence, which, for a price we can glimpse?

Or is it that pain is really just a mode of self-deception?

We feel great feelings

that are inexplicable through words.

That pain unleashes

unusually poignant thoughts,

then words.

Because especially deep pain

is really just too great,

so the mind, in an attempt to conceive

of the enormity of it,

pours out its expression

in phrases more beautiful than

what is otherwise impossible?

 

Is it out of self-recognized necessity,

that it unlocks a myriad

plethora of ideas that, connected,

merely drip with emotion and feeling.

Pointing such a vivid portrait

that we can feel almost the

exact same feelings as the

time when the feelings were transcribed.

So its exquisiteness can be replicated.

As, being human beings,

we tend to forget the bounty

we all have available to us.

So, in vivid and deep records,

in times of ungratefulness,

we can look back, and read.

Thus, remembering that which

has come before that we have conquered.

To remember that life is good.

To help remind each of us,

that, while remembering the pain,

that we do not want others to feel what we have felt.

As no one deserves any pain.

That our objective,

first and foremost,

is to help others.

That the human race and

those whom we love and

care for and those unknown multitude.

 

That pain is really

just an obstacle.

One that can be

overcome, conquered.

In the recognition itself,

its true fragility is revealed.

That pain is inevitable.

But that pain is also

simple, easy to understand.

Pain comes, yes, but only

in one form.

Like beauty, coming

in the forms of love,

nature, kindness,

physical beauty, wonderful thought,

simplicity and yet complexity,

the exquisiteness of the senses,

or in the marvel of a world

that we live in, yet, do not understand.

Like beauty, happiness comes in many different forms.

The magic is when it is found and recognized.

It is always present.

It shares many of the forms that beauty does,

it even is a type of beauty

in and of itself.

So what is pain,

in comparison to its foes:

happiness and love?

Very little.

The way we look at life,

matters much. Yet is still malleable.

We even have easily two eyes to view through.

Not to mention the eyes of the collective society,

these artists of pen, brush, or bow

who really speak to us.

Also through the eyes

 of those whose hearts are tied to our own.

We have merely to change our perspective.

To look with both eyes.

 

Looking,

looking, looking,

but never quite grasping

that little candle flame

right in front of us.

The happiness and love

that illuminates and warms our world

eludes all of us.

 

The pain releases our expression

and imagination.

Yet we do not have to

use that key to open that

door to view our shared being.

The staircase with an open archway at the top

begs, beseeches, and yearns for us to climb it.

Looking through at the greater chamber

of not only who and what we are.

But on to who and what we choose to be.

This expression, when experience is not

really replicated, as it is truly incomprehensible.

Not understandable on any level.

[lashtal]

"A man who is doing his true Will has the inertia of the Universe to assist him."

(I'm pretty sure it goes for women too, but Aleyster Crowley phrased it as above)

[Lazarus]

"The true horror of religion is that it allows perfectly sane, intelligent people to believe by the billions what only lunatics or imbeciles could believe in their own. 

If you wake up tomorrow morning thinking that saying a few Latin words over your pancakes is going to turn them into the body of Elvis Presley, you have lost your mind. But if you think more or less the same thing about a cracker and the body of Jesus, you're just a Catholic."

- Sam Harris

[Mallos]

Chewett won the silver! My honorable mention to Steno, nice poem.

Let me hear your favorite songs! Most favorited will win my silver in ~6 days

___________

_{I always end up thinking of this one in the context of MagicDuel...}

 

[Steno]

I found this one when I first started playing MD. Used to listen to it while playing. Still my favorite chill-out and just exist song. 

https://www.jamendo.com/album/9958/above-everything

Human Feelings, by mindthings

[Mallos]

Well Steno wins the coin by default.

This week I want to see pictures of your pets! Most lovely pet picture will win the silver coin

[Steno]

Two of my boys:

Chewbacca and George, when they stole MY chair from the table and pushed into the sun for their own enjoyment

Do you have any, Mallos?

Edited March 1, 2020 by Steno

[lashtal]

This is Romeo. We were moving and of course he was helping.