Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. the goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.

• St John Chrysostom

The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity.

• Second Council of the Vatican

When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.

• Pope St Gregory

Three quotes referenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and just one example of the dissonance between many “Christians” in the U.S. and the faith they purport to follow.

If that doesn’t get them, the fact that the concept of social justice, as in the actual coining of the term as well as the movement against capitalist exploitation brought on by the Industrial Revolution was by the Catholics does lol

The meaning behind it all is very simple, we’re all in this together, and the gifts given to us by God/nature belong to all of us. They’re not for us to hoard, or to exploit others for.

Don’t be a cunt!

Rationality is not a character trait, it’s a process. If you fool yourself into believing that you’re rational by default, you open yourself up to the most irrational thinking.

!quotes@lemmy.ca

“Give everything you can, but never anything you need.”

I try to live by this. I give away every extra dollar, and help people every chance I get

Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.

Being neurodivergent, this is the most efficient way to mentally deal with change (i fucking hate change even though its the only constant in life)

We must imagine Sisyphus as happy

I won’t break it down, plenty of people have done that already. It’s one of those sorta zen points that’s both almost trivial and very difficult to understand

If idioms count then my favorite is this one:

“I see,” said the blind man to his deaf wife over the phone.

My father would always say that to me growing up if i took too long to explain something 😅

“The impediment to action advances action. What’s in the way becomes the way.”

This is basically saying that anything that gets in the way of you solving a problem becomes the new problem to solve.

“The tool works at both ends.”

This is about skill building and practice. Making cool stuff improves you as a result.

Something I like about each is that they work in reverse. No impediment in your way? You’re probably not going to have very focused forward movement. No need to use tools (literally or metaphorically)? You won’t become more skilled.

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough”

“Comparison is the thief of joy”

Two of my favorite are from Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”

“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” (Also attributed as a Native American proverb)

If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.

This quote from LBJ centres me. Its been the conservative tactic for literally decades, from African Americans, to lgbtq+, to immigrants; it’s always been the same grift:

• Choose your marginalised group-du-jour.
• Convince a whole lot of stupid people that that group is the cause of all their problems.
• Profit.

Its honestly astonishing how blatant it really is.

I’ve always loved the dichotomy between “I think, therefore I am” versus “To be, is to be perceived”. Also, “life is what happens to you while you are making other plans”.

And when all wars are done, a butterfly will still be beautiful -Ruskin Bond

Pen is mightier than sword, France is Bacon.