this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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[–] officerdwn@feddit.org 6 points 52 minutes ago

Despite all our accomplishments, we all own our existence to a 6 inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.

I found it somewere on the Internet and can Not forget it.

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 1 points 4 minutes ago

We apologize for the inconvenience.

[–] KhanLee@lemmy.zip 1 points 7 minutes ago
[–] Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 10 minutes ago

The problem is, or rather one of the problems, for there are many, a sizeable proportion of which are continually clogging up the civil, commercial, and criminal courts in all areas of the Galaxy, and especially, where possible, the more corrupt ones, this.

[–] Feadanaigh@fedinsfw.app 1 points 38 minutes ago* (last edited 35 minutes ago)

Life is best when we build bridges between people, not walls.

- Billy Crystal at the funeral/celebration of life ceremony for Muhammad Ali

(He wrote this down in his script for his speech beforehand, so don't... just don't.)

[–] ace_garp@lemmy.world 1 points 41 minutes ago

"The course of human progress staggers like a drunk"

-- Freeze Up by Operation Ivy (1989)

[–] portnull@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

"That's one of the remarkable things about life. It's never so bad that it can't get worse"

Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god's blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my intelligence.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 hours ago

"It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times...stupid monkey!"

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 16 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

"This too shall pass"

If something good happens, it's a cautionary warning to stay humble.

If something bad happens, it's a comforting reminder that things will get better.

[–] ViscloReader@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

I've also heard "Everything ends"

[–] LadyButterfly@reddthat.com 3 points 3 hours ago
[–] fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 13 points 7 hours ago (1 children)
Tiān gāo, huángdì yuǎn
Heaven is high and the emperor is far away

Is one of my favorite.

Another is the a misattributed quote:

Les hommes ne seront jamais libres tant que le dernier roi ne sera pas étranglé avec les entrailles du dernier prêtre.

Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

Though the apparent original is good too.

Je ne veux ni donner ni recevoir de lois.
Et ses mains ourdiraient les entrailles du prêtre,
Au défaut d'un cordon pour étrangler les rois.

I seek neither to rule nor to serve.
And its hands would weave the entrails of the priest,
For the lack of a cord with which to strangle kings.

The second line from the US declaration of indpenedce is a banger too:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

John Brown's:

I cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the coming day.

Is also really good.

[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
I seek neither to rule nor to serve.
And its hands would weave the entrails of the priest,
For the lack of a cord with which to strangle kings.

What does that even mean? What thing's hands are we talking aboit by the second line?

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 3 points 57 minutes ago

It's a truncated quote from Diderot. The full verse is:

J’en atteste les temps ; j’en appelle à tout âge ;
Jamais au public avantage
L’homme n’a franchement sacrifié ses droits ;
S’il osait de son cœur n’écouter que la voix,
Changeant tout à coup de langage,
Il nous dirait, comme l’hôte des bois :
« La nature n’a fait ni serviteur ni maître;
« Je ne veux ni donner ni recevoir de lois. »
Et ses mains ourdiraient les entrailles du prêtre,
Au défaut d'un cordon pour étrangler les rois.

A slightly better translation would be:

I bear witness to the times; I appeal to all ages;
Never, for the public good,
Has man willingly sacrificed his rights;
If he dared to listen only to the voice of his heart,
Suddenly changing his tone,
He would say to us, like the dweller of the woods:
“Nature has created neither servant nor master;
“I wish neither to give nor to receive laws.” 
And his hands would tear out the priest’s entrails,
For lack of a cord to strangle kings.

It is the voice of the forest, dweller of the woods being a stand in for anarchists. So the hands strangling kings with priest's entrails are those of the man realizing the importance of rights and freedom. Diderot elaborates across the poem about the character of political order. Declaring that no law or political rule is sacred or natural. Mankind makes sociopolitical structures, they are not natural, and thus nature will gladly unmake them, as a king dying, for example. Essentially, he says that no elevated, supernatural, or godly power exists that will stop the hands of a person who has chosen to defy political oppression. It was extremely controversial in the XVIII century, a liberal cry for revolution against political systems that still stood over the pillars of a god given right of monarchs to rule. It's called Les éleuthéromanes, I'm not gonna try to translate that, but the full text can be found freely.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 hours ago

Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.

Perhaps the best, most succinct explanation of historical materialism.

Full Quote

Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living. And just as they seem to be occupied with revolutionizing themselves and things, creating something that did not exist before, precisely in such epochs of revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service, borrowing from them names, battle slogans, and costumes in order to present this new scene in world history in time-honored disguise and borrowed language.

[–] jaycifer@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

“ The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Teddy Roosevelt

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 15 points 11 hours ago

"Black Friday Sale! This Thursday only!".

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

I can't imagine I've read enough to know that but have always loved this one, from St Augustine, of all people.

Dance is a transformation of space, of time, of people, who are in constant danger of becoming all brain, will, or feeling.

The whole poem is amazing.

[–] CelloMike@lemmy.world 49 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

"In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very unhappy and has been widely regarded as a bad move."

[–] EvilHankVenture@lemmy.world 8 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I'd agree, but that's 2 sentences.

[–] CelloMike@lemmy.world 11 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Dammit

Okay imagine there's a semicolon there instead

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 8 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

"In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very unhappy and has been widely regarded as a bad move.";

Still doesn't work.

[–] Motorheadbanger@lemmy.world 11 points 7 hours ago (1 children)
[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 6 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

In the end, isn't that the real treasure?

[–] Motorheadbanger@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Half the kingdom and my firstborn for passing tests

[–] EvilHankVenture@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

I guess a string literally followed by a semicolon would be an interesting way to leave a comment. I may use this in the future since comments are against my religion. Figuring out what my code does is future me's problem. And that guy's a dick he never comments his code.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 13 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Spoken, not written:-

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly

[–] kureta@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 hours ago

This is one of the stupidest, most 14-year-old sentences I've ever heard, and still a lot of people love it :)

[–] baronvonj@piefed.social 92 points 22 hours ago (6 children)

"A Florida woman has been accused of entering the penguin enclosure to teach them to tap dance, using a live alligator as her partner."

[–] ksh@aussie.zone 1 points 50 minutes ago
[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 43 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

I can't fix her. She's already perfect.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 hours ago

Does she have a sister?

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[–] areakode@riskeratspizza.com 24 points 18 hours ago

They don't think it be like it is, but it do.

[–] dontgogettingtooclever@piefed.social 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

love that with such a broad sample pool, what we get here are some quips, in English, from the last few decades

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 7 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Here's some really profound writing you might enjoy, really brings a tear to the eye.

[–] LadyButterfly@reddthat.com 3 points 3 hours ago

They're such powerful words...

honestly, I always felt like this passage was heavy handed. Sort of manipulating us to feel something rather than earning it, you know?

[–] silly_goose@lemmy.today 11 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] HexagonSun@lemmy.zip 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Was shocked to discover very recently that it’s meant to be “It’s over 8000!”, and 9000 was a mistranslation

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Wait, really? My whole life is a lie.

[–] HexagonSun@lemmy.zip 4 points 8 hours ago

Yeah, in the Dragon Ball Z Kai English dub, Vegeta now says 8000!

[–] lonefighter@sh.itjust.works 13 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

"The man in black fled into the desert, and the gunslinger followed"

  • opening line for the Dark Tower novels by Stephen King, which is an absolutely phenomenal series that blends western and sci-fi elements with just a tad of fantasy and horror for flavor.
[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

By far my favorite Stephen King books. There are some rough parts for sure, but overall they're very good. That reminds me I haven't read them for a few years.

[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 0 points 7 hours ago
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