So Manny... why are you so pissed off all the time? Things are actually pretty good.

[Ichingcarpenter]

82. "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."

the phrase is often used to refer to those who deal with impropriety by turning a blind eye.

“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.”

- Niccolo Machiavelli



“People convince themselves of their own lies, becoming victims of their own inventions as they begin to direct their lives by standards of behavior, ideas, feelings, or instincts which do not correspond to their inner reality. What is truly serious in this matter is that the individual loses all points of reference regarding what comprises truth, and what comprises lies. He becomes used to considering as true only that which is convenient for his personal interests; everything that is in opposition to his self-esteem or in conflict with already established prejudices, he considers false.”

- John Baines


“An Ideal is merely an escape, an avoidance of what is, a contradiction of what is. An ideal prevents direct action upon what is. To have peace, we will have to love, we will have to begin not to live an ideal life but to see things as they are and act upon them, transform them.”

- J. Krishnamurti



“Cowardice asks the question: “Is it safe”?
 Expediency asks the question: “Is it politic”?
 Vanity asks the question: “Is it popular?”
But conscience asks the question: “Is it right?”
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular
but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one what is right.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.



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