Inspirational Quotes 77

People only tease you because they like you. Of course.
These “social threats”, the theory goes, can make us feel just as vulnerable as physical ones. The danger zones are status (which includes the feeling that the other person will criticise you or put you down), certainty (your ability to predict an outcome), autonomy (being able to control events), relatedness (the feeling of exclusion or not belonging) and fairness (the feeling that you’re being taken advantage of). (Guardian)

Solomon Asch emphasises that, once we find ourselves in the midst of a group, we are not indifferent to it, and individuals are concerned about what others around them think. To take note of what others say and do is the only sensible thing to do. (The Psychologist, Dec 2014)

By puberty, I was already a prime target for predatory males who seek out girls with low self-esteem… and then systematically lower that esteem even further. (Kristene Perron)

It is surely easier to be happy in some neighbourhoods than others. (BPS Research Digest)

26-35: This is a more stabilising time, with your focus on career development, relationships and possibly marriage. (Times January 9 2008)

You are never taught to live in freedom. (Amish man turned out of the community. Sounds like my old school.)

I do so love being exhorted to Zen-like acceptance of my situation by people with COMPLETELY PEACHY ****ING LIVES. (@MitchBenn)

People are constantly trying to shape how you view them. In certain extreme cases, they seem to be transmitting a personal motto, such as “I have a relaxed parenting style!”; “I earn in the low six figures!”; “I’m authentic and don’t try to project an image!” ... When you meet someone extremely charming, be cautious instead of dazzled. ... As a foreigner in France, you’re constantly breaking unspoken cultural rules. (NYT Feb 2015)



I don't trust anyone who habitually uses the term "taxpayers' money". I don't trust anyone who says "that was before my time". The same goes for "at the taxpayer's expense". (Andrew Male ‏@AndrewMaleMojo)

I would hate New York in the emerging 60s. (Alex Andreou)

History. Not the expression of a divine will or of the will of a hero, but the coincidence of a thousand small events and the participation of all the people. This is difficult to accept. We believe ourselves free. (Pierre in War and Peace)

In every generation, we forget how much poorer we used to be, and then we forget that we have forgotten. (@Koenfucius)

How to convey that Science results cannot be willed different by Politics? (Helen Czerski)

The prediction that there will be trouble and conflict in the world is one that is very easy to get right. (BBC The Big Questions)

Three people to be wary of: a man who believes in the beast of Bodmin, a woman who believes in true love, and a Liberal Democrat. (Miles Kington)

This narcissistic ambivalence is the root cause of their disappointment in each - the same reason dating is so hard for some teens and 20-somethings. You don't actually want a girl, they want the possibilities of a girl, before she becomes a real person. Before you learn she likes American Idol, before you discover her annoying laugh, and, most of all, before she finds out who you really are - before you can't fool her anymore... Consider [On the Road] describes numerous encounters with really young girls. ...it's easier to convince a young girl (or a broken girl) that you're somebody.  ... Try that on a normal woman and you know what you get?  Fake orgasms. (thelastpsychiatrist.com)


There was the failed actor who summed up his time in New York as “the 45-year insult”... In that world to be a bore was the greatest of sins... People – ie the aspirational, suburban middle class – who wanted to “get on” in life were boring... I felt like a failure for one simple reason: I WAS a failure. I didn’t have a girlfriend, I had very few friends and I was lonely... (Cosmo Landesman, Starstruck)

More here, and links to the rest.