Quotes

I've been collecting quotes for a long time now. I think it started in University when I used to put a new quote up on the white board beside my door each week. The guys would leave it for a few days and then tinker with them to make them (usually) rude or more disturbing than they in fact should be. I have favourites and I have a word document full of the quotes I've been able to write down or remember over the years.

At the moment, this is the quote that's running through my brain:

“Do not pursue what is illusory – property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life – don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn

It reminds me of one of the favourite movie speeches I quote from Fight Club a lot:

“Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.” Tyler Durdan (Brad Pitt in Fight Club)

Note the trend. The reason these two are front and centre now has to do with the book I wrote about recently. It's made me glad that I live a simpler life than some. We don't buy a lot of rubbish, spend a lot on crap we don't need, nor yearn after more "stuff". I like that. I also like that despite toiling away at work I can shut it off from my brain the minute I leave and not think about it at nights/on the weekend. Compartmentalizing it has made it easier to deal with. Work and stuff don't define me (I believe). The deeper question is, what does then define me??