“My mother said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping somebody who was worse off than you.”

— Sylvia Plath , book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Sylvia Plath 342

American poet, novelist and short story writer 1932–1963

Norman Maclean (1902–1990) American author and scholar

"A River Runs Through It", p. 22
A River Runs Through It (1976)

“I am not easily roused to anger but I must say that this latest cry to cut back the spending of worse off people to cure a crisis mostly caused by too much spending by better off people is intolerable.”

Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) British politician

The Daily Herald (7 October 1955), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 360
Opposition MP

“It is so much worse than you think.”

Eliezer Yudkowsky (1979) American blogger, writer, and artificial intelligence researcher

Predictible Fakers (January 2009) http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/01/predictible-fakers.html
Context: My experience is that journalists report on the nearest-cliche algorithm, which is extremely uninformative because there aren’t many cliches, the truth is often quite distant from any cliche, and the only thing you can infer about the actual event was that this was the closest cliche.... It is simply not possible to appreciate the sheer awfulness of mainstream media reporting until someone has actually reported on you. It is so much worse than you think.

“I'm delirious," said Howl. "Spots are crawling before my eyes."
"Those are spiders," said Sophie. "Why can't you cure yourself with a spell?"
"Because there is no cure for a cold," Howl said dolefully.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

“I think there's too much emphasis on beauty. I find it so limiting. I think just be yourself. Be who you are.”

Molly Shannon (1964) American actress

Interview on Cranky Critic http://www.crankycritic.com/qa/mollyshannon.html

“When you stopped to think about it, he reflected, there weren’t many things in life one truly needed. To want too much was worse than greed: it was stupidity—a waste of precious time and effort.”

Tad Williams (1957) novelist

Source: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, The Dragonbone Chair (1988), Chapter 42, “Beneath the Uduntree” (p. 724).

“I still think too much about the mothers
And ask what is man born of woman.”

Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator

"Preparation," trans. Czesław Miłosz and Robert Hass
Unattainable Earth (1986)
Context: I still think too much about the mothers
And ask what is man born of woman.
He curls himself up and protects his head
While he is kicked by heavy boots; on fire and running,
He burns with bright flame; a bulldozer sweeps him into a clay pit.
Her child. Embracing a teddy bear. Conceived in ecstasy.

“You are still young, free.. Do yourself a favor. Before it's too late, without thinking too much about it first, pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it will be too late.”

Jhumpa Lahiri book The Namesake

Source: The Namesake

“My mother once told me never be a second-rate version of somebody else when you can be a first-rate version of yourself.”

Liza Minnelli (1946) American actress and singer

"[G]racefully handl[ing] audience demands for 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow,'" as quoted in "Coy Minnelli wows spirited audience; UM announces MCA construction" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LQY1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=QE8KAAAAIBAJ&pg=3215%2C676019 by Alicia Amstead, in The Bangor Daily News (September 18, 2006), p. A10

“If you are the type of person who thinks too much about stuff then there is nothing lonelier in the world than being surrounded by a load of people on a different wavelength.”

Matt Haig book Reasons to Stay Alive

Source: Reasons to Stay Alive

“My mother said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping somebody who was worse off than you.”

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Sylvia Plath 342

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