Quotes about down
page 84

“What an obituary. When I go down into the ground at last, as God is my judge, I pray my best-beloved may have better to say of me than, “He didn’t hit me.””

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Komarr (1998), Chapter 14 (p. 227)

God

“Deaths in the U.S. are way down.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2020, July 2020

Death, Way

“The reason we feel alienated is because the society is infantile, trivial, and stupid. So the cost of sanity in this society is a certain level of alienation. I grapple with this because I’m a parent. And I think anybody who has children, you come to this realization, you know—what’ll it be? Alienated, cynical intellectual? Or slack-jawed, half-wit consumer of the horseshit being handed down from on high? There is not much choice in there, you see. And we all want our children to be well adjusted; unfortunately, there’s nothing to be well adjusted to!”

Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist

Children, Stupidity, Feeling, Thinking

“When the house is burning down around the poet's head, on grounds of what if any dispensation can the poet continue the poem?”

Carl Oglesby (1935–2011) American political activist

"The Deserters: The Contemporary Defeat of Fiction" (1972)

Housing

“In reading authors, when you find
Bright passages that strike your mind,
And which perhaps you may have reason
To think on at another season,
Be not contented with the sight,
But take them down in black and white;
Such a respect is wisely shown
That makes another's sense one's own.”

John Byrom (1692–1763) Poet, inventor of a shorthand system

"A Hint to a young Person, for his better Improvement by Reading or Conversation"
Miscellaneous Poems (1773)

Thinking, Sense, Reading, Season

“There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their own follies rather than to boast that they rose in the world through their own industry and talents.”

William Winwood Reade (1838–1875) British historian

The Martyrdom of Man (1872)

People, World

“I have gone through ups and downs in my relatively short career. And one thing I’ve learned is a bit of a cliché, but everything does happen for a reason.”

Chloé Zhao (1982) Chinese film director, screenwriter, and film producer

Learning

“Don’t judge others who disagree with your views too harshly. You might just find yourself holding those same views a few years or decades down the line.”

Yasir Qadhi (1975) Pakistani-American preacher and imam

“In a rainstorm, everyone quickly runs down the street with umbrellas, raincoats, newspapers over their heads. Writers go back outside in the rain with a notebook in front of them and a pen in hand. They look at the puddles, watch them fill, watch the rain splash in them.”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

Essay, "Living twice". p.53
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

“Of course, you can sit down and have something you want to say. But then you must let its expression be born in you and on the paper. Don't hold too tight; allow it to come out how it needs to rather than trying to control it.”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

Essay, "Writing is not a McDonald's hamburger". p.39
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

“You are like a star who's twinkling all the time at the night. When you light up yourself it show your happiness and when you're not it's look like you're sad. It's depends on you want to want be in your life glowing star who's spread happiness or dim star who's spread sadness. If i were a star I'll spreads happiness all around and when someone had a wish to me I'll fall down for their wish come true.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

Life, Happiness, Sadness, Star

“We have survived multiple ice ages, we have knocked down mammoths, we are carriers, we are heirs to the greatest civilization that ever existed.”

Thierry Baudet (1983) Dutch writer and jurist

Baudet's speech: 5 remarkable statements and what they mean. https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/politiek/artikel/4650251/de-speech-van-baudet-forum-voor-democratie-5-opmerkelijke

Age

“We should not look down upon ourselves. By domestic tourism we are saying this is the opportunity to enjoy as couples and as family where we can eat without cooking for ourselves or cleaning the house for a day or two.”

Mai Chisamba (1952)

"ZTA Ropes in Mai Chisamba as Tourism Ambassador" https://www.chronicle.co.zw/zta-ropes-in-mai-chisamba-as-tourism-ambassador, Chronicle (September 29, 2021)

Family, Housing, Cooking

“Of course, I would like to go down in history as the man who brought peace.”

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (1923–2001) president of South Vietnam from 1965–75

"Thieu Asks an Invasion of North If Paris Peace Negotiations Fail" in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/14/archives/thieu-asks-an-invasion-of-north-if-paris-peace-negotiations-fail.html (14 January 1973)

Peace, History

“We also believe that we cannot truly become free when marginalised Black communities are kept at the margins and are forgotten. We don't believe that there can be a trickle-down social justice. We believe that people on the margins must be brought centre.”

Opal Tometi (1984) Nigerian–American writer, strategist and community organizer

Black Lives Matter Was Always Designed to Be a Global Movement, Vice] (7 July 2020)

People, Justice, Communication

“When the lights go out
come and hunt me down,
keep me in your line of sight
Be my predator, I'll give in to ya
Take a taste, do what you like
Show me how to love ya
Show me how to get you high
Show me how to love ya
I just wanna rock you right”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Show me how to Love" (song), feat. Hayla ("Show me how to Love" on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLTcHyuKAb0 Mixtapes, Bangers & Ballads (2018)

Love, Light

“If only I had a Ferrari
Then I'd be a Ken doll and she'd be Barbie
We could ride together with the roof rolled down
With the whole town jealous of my girl and my fast car”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"I Need a Fast Car" (song). Based on "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman ("I Need a Fast Car" on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC91THkQ9Hs, feat. Tracy Chapman) Remix albums, We Didn't Invent the Remix (2007)

Cars, Girl

“You can't rap, my friend
You're white and you're from Fulham
Please put down the mic
there's no way you can fool them
Don't be stupid, you won't get that far
Turn your back on hip-hop, bruv, and go and play guitar”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"You Can't Rap" (song) ("You Can't rap" - Official video on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvCd1Xq0Au4 (+ Lyrics version of "You Can't Rap" on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK_3L-9dv_c Studio albums, What We Made (2007)

Stupidity, Fools, Way

“This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. […] You practice whether you want to or not.
Through practice you actually do get better.
Sit down with the least expectation of yourself; say "I am free to write the worst junk in the world."”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

You have to give yourself the space to write a lot without a destination.
Essay, "Writing as a practice". p.11
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

World, School

“If you have no fear of shouting nor writing down someone's name, then you have got nothing to fear in their presence.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Fear

“Men are now being forced to kneel down and beg women for mercy. Yes, I told you that there is peace only after one person takes the lead. This is the universal law of nature.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Women, Men, Peace, Law

“Time cannot be slowed down. Either ride with it or increase your speed to get there much faster.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Time, Speed

“Women are great at talking and expressing their emotions, while men are great at reasoning and writing down their thoughts.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Women, Men

“The reason why there are hardly ever completely knock-down arguments, except between very like minded philosophers, is that philosophers, unlike chemists or geologists, are licensed to question everything, including methodology.”

J. J. C. Smart (1920–2012) Australian philosopher and academic

Ockhamist Comments on Strawson, in Anthony Freeman (ed.), Consciousness and its Place in Nature: Does Physicalism Entail Panpsychism?, Exteter, 2006, pp. 158-159
Other quotes

Question

“Sometimes in life, you have to run, sometimes you fall down, and sometimes you have to take a break, but it seems I have always focused on running.”

Moon So-ri (1974) South Korean actress

As quoted in "Moon So-ri interview: “People usually run in sneakers, whereas I had to run in high heels”" in Eastern Kicks (20 May 2018) https://www.easternkicks.com/features/moon-so-ri-interview-people-usually-run-in-sneakers-whereas-i-had-to-run-in-high-heels

Life

“They can extinguish awareness by dumbing down education, owning TV stations, paying "guest fees" to leader writers, or just buying the media up. The media—and not just The Washington Post—is where democracies conduct their civil wars.”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

"Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery", p. 124
Cloud Atlas (2004), Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery (Part 1)

War, Education, Democracy

“We already convert sunlight into beamed energy and send it down to Earth. Except we use it to carry information rather than raw power. To deliver power requires a massive increase in scale, but not inventing new technology.”

Sheyene Gerardi Venezuelan actor and model

“Mind working is man, mind working fast is mad, mind slowed down is Mast and mind stopped is God.”

Meher Baba (1894–1969) Indian mystic

General sources

God, Madness

“[Foxes have] their dens and birds have their nests, but human beings have no place to lay down and rest.”

Jesus (-7–30 BC) Jewish preacher and religious leader, central figure of Christianity

86
Gnostic Gospels, Gospel of Thomas (c. 2nd century AD manuscript)

Bird

“Bitcoin accelerates the advance of monetary theory into cybernetic fundamentalism. It’s turtles – or, more precisely, feedback dynamics – all the way down.”

Nick Land (1962) British philosopher

"‘Crypto-Current: Bitcoin and Philosophy’ §5.741" https://etscrivner.github.io/cryptocurrent/ (2018)

Way

“I'm the same as a key piece of machinery in a steel mill, which is needed to make steel and to make money for the mill owners. If I break down, it's their problem. My problem is to build some kind of decent life for myself in this crazy unreal world in which I make my living.”

Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011) British-American actress

Source: As quoted in "The Frail Goddess," The Real and the Unreal (1961) by Bill Davidson, p. 78

Life, Money, World, Problem

“We Croatians are suffering from an overdose of history during the past century. Of course we still have some nationalism. But the feelings are slowly cooling down.”

Zoran Milanović (1966) Croatian politician

Source: "'Germany Is a Role Model for Us'" in Speigel International https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/interview-with-croatian-prime-minister-milanovic-germany-is-a-role-model-a-856179.html (17 September 2012)

Feeling, History, Suffering, Past

“A lot of people try to boil down creation to just one thing and "what are you gonna do next" as if there's always a ladder to climb and it's like, the ladder is what you make for yourself, right?”

Markiplier (1989) American YouTuber and Internet personality

Source: Video game commentary, PowerWash Simulator (2021)

People

“If the King can do no wrong, it is akin to looking down upon him, because the King is not being treated as a human being. The King can do wrong.”

Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927–2016) King of Thailand

Source: As quoted in 2005, "Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej: One of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs" in CNN https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/13/asia/thai-king-bhumibol-adulyadej-obituary/index.html (14 October 2016)

“Next to a sum of money down, a grievance is the best thing you can have. A man who can stick to a grievance year after year will always make money out of it at last.”

Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) English novelist (1815-1882)

Source: John Caldigate, Ch. 53

Money

“Remember, we need global help right now to get the vaccines. The person who needs the help cannot have ego. Ego never served anyone anyway, but if we keep ego or fake pride now, when we need help, we won't succeed. Heads down, get to work, source and administer the vaccines.”

Chetan Bhagat (1974) Indian author, born 1974

Source: — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 28, 2021 https://twitter.com/chetan_bhagat/status/1387325380164558848 also quoted in https://tfipost.com/2021/05/while-liberals-promote-pfizer-vaccine-the-company-bullied-latin-american-nations-to-put-sovereign-assets-as-collateral/

Help, Personality

“Only my faith and hope in that loving God who wants the good for all his sons enabled me to grow in spirit and strengthened me for the ups and downs of life. That is why I was able to succeed and I thank my Lord again and again.”

Óscar Elías Biscet (1961) Cuban activist

Source: Cuba’s Conscience https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2012/03/12/cubas-conscience/ (December 2011)

Love, Life, God, Faith

“Do not hate anyone even at church. You should not have a permanent enemy even in politics. Do not be weighed down by hate and jealousy.”

Joice Mujuru (1955) Zimbabwean politician

Source: "Zimbabwe: 'I Have Quit Politics' - Joice Mujuru" https://allafrica.com/stories/202103090190.html, All Africa (March 9, 2021) Context: She can actually give me advice on how to overcome the challenges.

Hate, Jealousy

“Thanksgiving for the benefits received from God is made acceptable by humility and not looking down on those who lack them. It is rendered unacceptable, however, by being conceited, as if those benefits resulted from our own efforts and knowledge, and by condemning those who have not received them.”

Gregory Palamas (1296–1359) Monk and archbishop

Source: The Parables of Jesus: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas

God, Knowledge, Effort

“Various classes of doctors and healers somewhat to look down upon each other and ignore respective merit. This habit must be superseded, of course, by co-operation, correlation and the growing understanding of the part that various types of healing play in their relation to one another...”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XXXV The Opportunity Today

Understanding, Parting

“Let us lay down as the first foundation stone of our work the determination to seek for a World Design which is strictly in accordance with the highest spiritual principles which have been given to man down the ages, irrespective of whether we think the result possible or not.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter II Planning a Model World

Age, World, Thinking

“Career has given me a lot of happiness and I’ve fallen in love with it. Of course, there is joy in fame, but there are plenty of difficult periods to endure as well. It’s not unusual to feel down or stressed, but I use those as motivators to remain steadfast and look ahead.”

Liu Wen (model) (1988) Chinese model

Source: "Liu Wen opens up about fame, responsibility and finding meaning in her career" in Vogue https://vogue.sg/liu-wen-cover-vogue-singapore-leslie-zhang/ (1 March 2021)

Love, Happiness, Feeling, Motivation

“Nice girls, not one with a defect,
Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct.
Red dogs under illegal legs,
She looks so good that he gets down and begs.She is watching the detectives.
"Ooh, it's so cute."”

Elvis Costello (1954) English singer-songwriter

She's watching the detectives.
When they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
They beat him up until the teardrops start,
But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart.
Song lyrics
Source: Watching the Detectives (1977)

Dogs, Girl

“I don't sit down to write something politically or to challenge stereotypes. Being who I am, almost everything I do will be political, almost everything I do will be a challenge to those stereotypes…”

Rabih Alameddine (1959) Lebanese-American painter and writer.

Source: On challenging stereotypes in “Researcher Nadia Barhoum interviews Rabih Alameddine” https://belonging.berkeley.edu/alameddine (Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley)

“This idea that we're not any gender when we're born is very new and very radical that you're born, it's just jump ball, you have a penis, it could mean you’re a boy That's a very new idea and I'm not sure if I'm down with all of it and I don't have to be.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

Source: Andrew Yang & John McWhorter on Dave Chappelle and 'Transphobia', (2021)

Boy, Idea

“Christ himself would agitate against them. He would agitate against the plutocrats and hypocrites who tell workers to go down on their knees and get right with God. Christ, the carpenter’s son, would tell them to stand up on their feet and fight for righteousness and justice on earth.”

Mary Harris Jones (1837–1930) Irish-born American labor and community organizer

Source: Autobiography of Mother Jones

God, Justice, Christ, Fight

“If we do not have rule of law and effective and transparent judiciary, everything else will start crumbling down.”

Ana Brnabić (1975) Prime Minister of Serbia

Source: "Ana Brnabić: 'I do not want to be branded Serbia's gay PM'" in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/28/ana-brnabic-serbia-prime-minister-interview (28 July 2017)

Law

“Thinking is easier than working. And the best kind of thinking is the kind where you don't have to write anything down, i.e., "meeting thinking." When you think up an idea during a meeting, all you have to do is blurt it out. You won't have to involve any parts of your body except your mouth and maybe your brain stem.”

Scott Adams book The Joy of Work

Source: Books, The Joy of Work (1998)

Idea, Thinking, Parting

“More and more
my mind shut
down
behind the wine . . .
until
I was conscious of just
sections of
time.
Bits and
pieces of
grey awareness.
Then . . .
v-e-r-y-s-o-o-n
it was
all
completely
dark.”

Dan Fante (1944–2015) American writer

Source: Novels, Chump Change (1998), Ch.10 - p.75

Wine, Time

“I’m down for any type of movie. I never want to limit myself as an actor to the possibilities that are out there. I am down for anything. If anything that I do, I do the best of my ability.”

Uriah Shelton (1997) American actor and singer

Source: Interview with Uriah Shelton https://www.scifiandscary.com/interview-with-uriah-shelton/ (28 May 2017)

“Everybody will try to knock you down but only you can see where you’re going, so you must be strong, believe in yourself and keep going.”

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (1978) Nigerian actress and singer

https://naijagists.com/omotola-jalade-ekeinde-wisdom-quotes-top-20-motivational-quotes-sayings-omosexy/ Omotola Jalade Ekehinde speaking on Success.

Strong

“Group identity can be fractionated right down to the level of the individual.”

Jordan Peterson book 12 Rules for Life

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Rule 11: Do not bother children when they are skateboarding

“The pitchforks and torches can tear down and burn up but they can't build up the institutions and communities so necessary to a stable and prosperous country”

Bob Inglis (1959) Former U.S. congressman

Source: "Bob Inglis: How I changed my mind about climate change" https://www.npr.org/2021/12/03/1061214253/bob-inglis-how-i-changed-my-mind-about-climate-change, NPR (December 3, 2021)

Communication, Tear, Country

“Paleoseismology... is science by backhoe. Researchers dig deep, straight-walled ditches and search up and down for signs of shaking.”

Shawna Vogel science writer

Naked Earth: the New Geophysics (1995)

Search, Science

“It’s no fun looking down on people if you can’t let them know you’re above them.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Moon Over Soho

Source: Moon Over Soho (2011), Chapter 13, “Autumn Leaves” (p. 273)

People

“I will defend my right to confess my faith, so that no one else would be deprived of their right to freedom of religion and speech. I hold to the view that my expressions are legal, and they should not be censored. I will not back down from my views. I will not be intimidated into hiding my faith.”

Päivi Räsänen (1959) Finnish politician

Source: The Persecution of a Finnish Parliamentarian https://www.ncregister.com/news/the-persecution-of-a-finnish-parliamentarian (December 15, 2020)

Faith, Religion, Freedom

“During the festival we appreciate how big is God´s gift to Asmat people. They can preserve their identity through their woodcarvings. Their carving is art that reflects fundamental beliefs passed down from generation to generation.”

Aloysius Murwito (1950) Indonesian catholic priest

Source: Church Continues To Preserve Asmat Culture Through Art Festival https://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2006/10/30/church-continues-to-preserve-asmat-culture-through-art-festival&post_id=28455 (6 October 2006)

God, People, Art

“When angry do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no such room or foothold for the devil give no opportunity to him.”

book Bible

Source: Ephesians 4:26-27, AMP

Truth, Sun

“I have actually sat down to make a distinct History of the Norman Conquest, which I can do easier than anybody else, as I have worked so much at the subject for twenty years past, that is, a great part of the story; there will be little more to do than to write down what is already in my head.”

Edward Augustus Freeman (1823–1892) English historian (1823-1892)

Source: Letter to Dean Hook (23 December 1865), quoted in W. R. W. Stephens, The Life and Letters of Edward A. Freeman, Volume I (1895), p. 335

History, Past, Parting

“Oh but why couldn't Pfizer agree to our terms, some say. Well, we needed Pfizer's vaccine more than they needed us. We could have saved lives if we kept our ego down and said 'how can we make it work Pfizer' rather than 'why can't you listen to us.' Lives could have been saved.”

Chetan Bhagat (1974) Indian author, born 1974

Source: — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter https://twitter.com/chetan_bhagat/status/1387331772761915392

“Oh, rolling round the ocean,
From a far and foreign land,
May suit the common notion
That a sailor's life is grand.
But as for me, I'd sooner be
A roaring here at home
About the rolling, roaring life
Of them that sails the foam.
For the homeward-bounder's chorus,
Which he roars across the foam,
Is all about chucking a sailor's life,
And settling down at home.
Home, home, home,
That's the song of them that roam,
The song of the roaring, rolling sea
Is all about rolling home.”

Norman Lindsay book The Magic Pudding

The Salt Junk Sarah
The Magic Pudding (1918)

Life, Home, Sea

“Feel your hair come tumbling down
Feel your feet start kissing the ground
Feel your arms are opening out
And see your eyes are lifted to God
With no words, with no song
I'm gonna dance the dream
And make the dream come true...”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Source: Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)

God, Dreams, Feeling, Kiss

“The difference between a Hero and an ordinary man is that when the ordinary man comes upon a flaming death swamp full of venomous dragon snakes, he turns around and goes home. The Hero strips down and goes for a swim.”

Jim C. Hines (1974) American writer

Source: The Goblin Quest Series, Goblin Hero (2007), Chapter 4 (p. 60)

Death, Home

“Everyone experiences ups and downs in their lives. I'm thankful enough to have good friends by my side through them all.”

Hebe Tien (1983) Taiwanese singer, actress

Source: Hebe Tien (2021) cited in " Hebe Tien Hints S.H.E Could Change Name If Copyright Issues With Ex-Label Can’t Be Resolved https://www.todayonline.com/8days/sceneandheard/entertainment/hebe-tien-hints-she-could-change-name-if-copyright-issues-ex-label" on Today Online, 6 January 2021.

“What would you do if people came into your house and beat you and beat your family, and then this aggressor wanted to sit down with you and say, “OK, be nice, and stay out of the country?””

Xiomara Castro (1959) First Lady of Honduras

Imagine, they have violated President Zelaya's’s rights. They have invented accusations of crimes against him, when they never presented any order of arrest. They took him out, tied up, transferred him to another country, and now they sit him down to negotiate with the criminals. Quoted in “A Moment of Hope”: Xiomara Castro’s Likely Win in Honduran Election Ends Years of Right-Wing Rule After Coup https://www.democracynow.org/2021/11/30/xiomara_castro_first_woman_president_honduras, Democracy Now!, November 30, 2021 (Speaking in 2009 on the Honduran-Nicaraguan border after the coup against Manuel Zelaya)

People, Family, Housing, Country

“Surely deep down we all want to respect the reputation of others, see the best in them and not cause an unjust injury. So aim for the heavens and not the gutter.”

Paul Donoghue (1949) Roman Catholic bishop

The power of the spoken word ‘to heal or destroy’ https://www.cookislandsnews.com/uncategorised/church-talk-the-power-of-the-spoken-word-to-heal-or-destroy/ (30 April 2021)

“When the world you live in
really gets you down,
when you feel a pain inside you
starting to pound,
and the girl you love,
she doesn't want to know,
let an old friend, as a godsend,
lead you to where peaceful waters flow”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Where Peaceful Waters Flow" (song) Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FnSi2UtNYU (song on YouTube) Song lyrics

Love, Pain, World, Peace

“One minute you say you will
and the next you won't,
One minute you want me
and the next you don't,
You're turning me upside down,
Giving me the runaround,
Don't think that I don't know -
I do,
Don't think that I won't go.
You watch me:
It isn't out of question”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Out of the Question" (song) Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Out of the Question" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV2E3q9rUXA (song on YouTube) Song lyrics Source: (+ Performed live, 2017.On YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oHVxoA5688

Question, Thinking

“You say you got a big house out in the country
with a ruddy great swimming pool.
You say you got a lot of things I never had. That's true.
But are you happy?
Are you happy?
Are you happy?
When you get right down to the nitty-gritty,
are you happy? You?”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Are You Happy?" (song) Song lyrics Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Are You Happy?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLBSdzsybWw (song on YouTube)

Happiness, Housing, Country

“I play defense as much as anything down there.”

Mike Cierpiot (1953) American politician

New Missouri House Floor Leader Cierpiot on Issues and John Diehl https://www.missourinet.com/2015/08/03/new-missouri-house-floor-leader-cierpiot-on-issues-and-john-diehl/ (3 August 2015)

“You're hearing evidence of dead people voting and you're hearing people who don't live in the states and you think wow this is gonna be turned down, it's gonna be flipped to the rightful winner, and it never happened.”

Mike Lindell (1961) American businessman

Source: 3 April 2021 interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWE0qiU9EEI&t=2m51s with Doug Billings

People, Thinking, Dead

“Death is master of lord and clown.
Close the coffin and hammer it down.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: Prince Lucifer (1887), Adam in Act IV, sc. iv; p. 111.

Death

“The people of Myanmar will go down in history for being a part of the formation of a new nation.”

Mahn Win Khaing Than (1952) politician

Source: Mahn Win Khaing Than (2022) cited in: " ‘I’ve never seen such solidarity… we expect the revolution to succeed this year’ – NUG Prime Minister https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/ive-never-seen-such-solidarity-we-expect-the-revolution-to-succeed-this-year-nug-prime-minister" in Myanmar Now, 22 January 2022.

People, History, Parting

“The world's biggest problem is not sexism, racism, political polarization, war, or income inequality. The key never-ending crisis is that most people can’t or won’t think. Poor thinking skills cut cross all the usual lines to drag down societies like nothing else. Thinking well could alleviate or solve virtually all our problems.”

Guy P. Harrison (1963) American skeptic author

War, People, World, Problem

“Our work is about supporting survivors by providing resources for healing and action. If in the course of that process a perpetrator is held accountable for their actions - so be it. But our goal is not to ‘take down’ individuals it’s to dismantle systems that give them cover.”

Tarana Burke (1973) American civil rights activist

Source: [1017753906728890369, TaranaBurke, Our work is about supporting survivors by providing resources for healing and action., en, Burke, Tarana, Jul 13, 2018, https://twitter.com/TaranaBurke/status/1017753906728890369, 2022-01-25]

Support

“I felt it was shaving away my soul little by little…The music industry is this supersaturated version of consumerism. You are the product being consumed, bought, and sold. Even the people on your team who are your friends, the very foundation of your dynamic is that they get a percentage of your income. Every time I turned something down, it would mean that they would make less money.”

Mitski (1990) Japanese-American singer-songwriter

Laurel Hell Source: On why she initially decided to leave the music industry in Mitski Had to Quit Music to Love It” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/mitski-new-album-laurel-hell-cover-story-1272973/ in Rolling Stone (2021 Dec 27)

Money, People, Music, Soul

“Correct breathing also performs a constant massage of the internal organs by raising them up and down, thus curing constipation when it is caused by faulty insufficient breathing (as is often the case) which holds the muscles of the abdomen in a static position. Therefore the first thing to do is to make sure that you know how to breathe from the physical standpoint, and how to control the muscle of the diaphragm. This muscle forms the dividing line between the chest and the stomach just below the ribs. Place the fingers upon the diaphragm muscle just below the ribs and under the centre breast bone. In this arched hollow lies the muscle upon which correct breathing depends. Take a slow breath, drawing the muscle upwards and inwards, following its movement with the fingers, fill the lungs with air right up to the collarbones. Then breathe out slowly whilst tucking the diaphragm still further inwards and upwards!”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XV The Essential Science of Breathing

Drawing, Dependency

“Once upon a time I drank a little wine,
was as happy as could be, happy as could be,
Now I'm just like a cat on a hot tin roof,
Baby, what do you think you're doing to me?
Told you once before
and I won't tell you no more,
so get down, get down, get down
You're a bad dog, Baby
but I still want you around, around
I still want you around
Hey hey hey”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Get Down" (song) Song lyrics Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Get Down" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXl5P2xO9-o (song on YouTube) Source: (+ Duet with Lulu. On YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlqoiBV6ETs

Happiness, Dogs, Cats, Thinking

“At the very mention of your name
I get shivers down my back and in my brain.
The parts that used to function normally
are now, as you can see,
acting very strange.
Oh, at the very mention of your name
I don't know why but if I were tied up in chains
I would somehow be released
all problems too would cease
my heart would never feel no pain.
At the very mention of your name.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"At The Very Mention Of Your Name" (song) Song lyrics Source: Gilbert O'Sullivan, "At The Very Mention Of Your Name" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNpIBp-wleI (song on YouTube. (Live performance in Japan, 1993.))

Pain, Feeling, Problem, Heart

“Civilization.…
Like everything else, it has a price. The down payment is freedom. For the privilege of living together, men surrender the right to do as they please; they make laws and restrict themselves within them.
When civilization is conferred from outside, the price is even steeper: someone else makes the laws.”

Jack Williamson book Star Bridge

Source: Star Bridge (1955), “The History,” prelude to Chapter 3, “The Narrow Bridge” (p. 37)

Men, Law, Freedom

“I've come to believe that genius is an exceedingly common human quality, probably natural to most of us... I began to wonder, reluctantly, whether it was possible that being in school itself was what was dumbing them down. Was it possible I had been hired not to enlarge children's power, but to diminish it? That seemed crazy on the face of it, but slowly I began to realize that the bells and the confinement, the crazy sequences, the age-segregation, the lack of privacy, the constant surveillance, and all the rest of national curriculum of schooling were designed exactly as if someone had set out to prevent children from learning how to think and act, to coax them into addiction and dependent behavior.”

John Taylor Gatto book Dumbing Us Down

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992), pp. xxxiii-xxxiv

Children, Age, School, Behavior

“Are you a man? Then you should have an human heart. But have you indeed? What is your heart made of? Is there no such principle as Compassion there? Do you never feel another's pain? Have you no Sympathy? No sense of human woe? No pity for the miserable? When you saw the flowing eyes, the heaving breasts, or the bleeding sides and tortured limbs of your fellow-creatures, was you a stone, or a brute? Did you look upon them with the eyes of a tiger? When you squeezed the agonizing creatures down in the ship, or when you threw their poor mangled remains into the sea, had you no relenting? Did not one tear drop from your eye, one sigh escape from your breast? Do you feel no relenting now? If you do not, you must go on, till the measure of your iniquities is full. Then will the Great GOD deal with You, as you have dealt with them, and require all their blood at your hands.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

Source: 1770s, Thoughts Upon Slavery (1774)

God, Pain, Feeling, Sense

“Now roll them cases out and lift them amps,
Haul them trusses down and get 'em up them ramps.
Cause when it comes to moving me,
You know you guys are the champs.
But when that last guitar's been packed away,
You know that I still want to play.
So just make sure you got it all set to go
Before you come for my piano.”

Jackson Browne (1948) American singer-songwriter

Source: Running on Empty (1977), "The Load-Out"

Guy

“Nature shouldn’t be able to do this, Sunday thought. It shouldn’t be able to produce something that resembled the work of directed intelligence, something artful, when the only factors involved were unthinking physics and obscene, spendthrift quantities of time. Time to lay down the sediments, in deluge after deluge, entire epochs in the impossibly distant past when Mars had been both warm and wet, a world deluded into thinking it had a future. Time for cosmic happenstance to hurl a fist from the sky, punching down through these carefully superimposed layers, drilling through these carefully superimposed layers, drilling the geological chapters like a bullet through a book. And then yesterday more time—countless millions of years—for wind and dust to work their callous handiwork, scouring and abrading, wearing the exposed layers back at subtly different rates depending on hardness and chemistry, util these deliberate-looking right-angled steps and contours began to assume grand and imperial solidity, rising from the depths like the stairways of the gods.
Awe-inspiring, yesterday. Sometimes it was entirely right and proper to be awed. And recognising the physics in these formations, the hand of time and matter and the nuclear forces underpinning all things, did not lessen that feeling. What was she, ultimately, but the end product of physics and matter? And what was her art but the product of physics and matter working on itself?”

Alastair Reynolds book Blue Remembered Earth

Source: Blue Remembered Earth (2012), Chapter 17 (pp. 292-293)

God, Books, World, Art

“Overextending myself is not stretching myself. I had to accept how difficult it is to monitor the difference. Necessary for me as cutting down on sugar. Crucial. Physically. Psychically. Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

Source: [Lorde, Audre, A Burst of Light : Living with Cancer, A burst of light : essays, 125, Firebrand Books, 1988, 0932379400]

“I am happy enough to think I have the present the real love of my subjects, and lay it down for certain that if I do not show them that I will not permit Ministers to trample on me, that my subjects will in time come to esteem me unworthy of the Crown I wear.”

George III of the United Kingdom (1738–1820) King of Great Britain and King of Ireland

Source: Letter to the Earl of Bute (November 1760), quoted in Letters from George III to Lord Bute, 1756–1766, ed. Romney Sedgwick (1939), p. 50

Love, Happiness, Thinking, Time

“Most people just don’t want to accept the reality of incompatibility. But refusing to accept incompatibility will lead you straight down the road to relationship hell.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Source: tealswan.com/quotes

People, Hell, Reality

“I will get back on my feet even if I am knocked down’. For that, you need to know what all might knock you down and where would you fall.”

Divya S. Iyer (1984) Indian bureaucrat

Source: Quoted in Insights in India https://www.insightsonindia.com/2014/07/27/knowledge-is-power-a-guide-to-upsc-exam-preparation-by-divya-s-iyer-ias/

“I poured my heart out to you, let down my guard, swear to God
I'll blow my brains in your lap, lay here and die in your arms
Drop to my knees and I'm pleading, I'm trying to stop you from leaving”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Space Bound"
2010s, Recovery (2010)

God, Heart

“Remember me? I'm the one who burned your house down
…But I'm out now
And this time I'm coming back to blow your house up
And I ain't gonna leave you with a window to jump out of!”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Bad Meets Evil"
1990s, The Slim Shady LP (1999)

Time, Housing

“It all begins with the family, That's where all the vocations come from. Priests, sisters, brothers, deacons, we do not come flying down from heaven. We come from families.”

Eduardo Nevares (1954) Roman Catholic bishop

Source: New Phoenix auxiliary bishop learned importance of faith from family https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/21144/new-phoenix-auxiliary-bishop-learned-importance-of-faith-from-family (13 October 2010)

Family, Sister, Flying

“That party will go down to all time as the party that failed Australia in her hour of need.”

Billy Hughes (1862–1952) Australian politician, seventh prime minister of Australia

Source: Regarding the Australian Labor Party, as quoted in a speech https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1917-billy-hughes during the 1917 federal election campaign (27 March 1917)

Time

“Bow down: I am the emperor of dreams;
I crown me with the million-colored sun
Of secret worlds incredible, and take
Their trailing skies for vestment when I soar,
Throned on the mounting zenith, and illume
The spaceward-flown horizons infinite.”

Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961) American author

Opening lines of "The Hashish Eater; or, the Apocalypse of Evil" (1920)

Secret, World, Dreams, Color

“We may lay it down as a rule that the older the exercise of any power, the more benign it will appear, and the more recent its assumption, the more unnatural and even dangerous it will seem.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter V, Section 4, p. 58 (1985)

Exercises, Appearance

“She was more than human to me. She was a Fairy, a Sylph, I don’t know what she was - anything that no one ever saw, and everything that everybody ever wanted. I was swallowed up in an abyss of love in an instant. There was no pausing on the brink; no looking down, or looking back; I was gone, headlong, before I had sense to say a word to her.”

Charles Dickens book David Copperfield

Source: David Copperfield

Love, Sense

“Science has always suffered pressure from the powerful and its results are very disturbing; and the times when scientists have backed down, it has not been good for humanity.”

Ricardo Galvão (1947) Brazilian physicist and engineer

Suffering, Science, Time

“So what use are we? Burnside hopes to die exhausted in a cathouse, with the sweet-sweet taste of bourbon on his tongue. My own ambition is less raunchy. I want, at age ninety, to be gunned down while storming the Congress.”

Jack Cady (1932–2004) American writer

Source: Kilroy Was Here (1996), p. 142

Age, Hope

“The argument for Christian practices becomes all the stronger, when also nature, which is the first rule of all, supports them. Well, she is the first who lays it down that a crown does not become the head.”

Tertullian (155–220) Christian theologian

Source: The Chaplet https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0304.htm, Chapter V

Support, Nature

“The tragedy of life is linked inescapably with its splendor; you could tear civilization down and rebuild it from scratch, and the same dualities would rise again. Yet to fully inhabit these dualities—the dark as well as the light—is, paradoxically, the only way to transcend them.”

Susan Cain (1968) self-help writer

Bittersweet Introduction at p. xxiii

Life, Way, Tear, Light

“The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic. And it’s gone down both years since I’ve been here — period.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/05/04/remarks-by-president-biden-on-economic-growth-jobs-and-deficit-reduction/ Remarks by President Biden On Economic Growth, Jobs, and Deficit Reduction (May 4, 2022)

Quotes about down page 84

Quotes about down
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