Those who seek to glorify biblical womanhood have forgotten the dark stories.
They have forgotten that the concubine of Bethlehem, the raped princess of
David's house, the daughter of Jephthah, and the countless unnamed women who
lived and died between the lines of Scripture exploited, neglected, ravaged, and
crushed at the hand of patriarchy are as much a part of our shared narrative as
Deborah, Esther, Rebekah, and Ruth. We may not have a ceremony through which to
grieve them, but it is our responsibility as women of faith to guard the dark
stories for our own daughters, and when they are old enough, to hold their faces
between our hands and make them promise to remember.

-- Rachel Held Evans, "A Year of Biblical Womanhood"
%
Hard Copies and Chmod

And everyone thinks computers are impersonal
cold diskdrives hardware monitors
user-hostile software

of course they're only bits and bytes
and characters and strings
and files

just some old textfiles from my old boyfriend
telling me he loves me and
he'll take care of me

simply a discarded printout of a friend's directory
deep intimate secrets and
how he doesn't trust me

couldn't hurt me more if they were scented in lavender or mould
on personal stationery

-- terri@csd4.milw.wisc.edu
%
"As I desire, so it shall be." -- Nicol Bolas

-- Apex of Power, Magic: The Gathering
%
"Holy places are no longer sanctuary from death, and death is no longer
sanctuary from anything." -- Thalia, Knight-Cathar

-- Blasphemous Act, Magic: The Gathering
%
Power begets power.

-- Blinkmoth Infusion, Magic: The Gathering
%
These waters remain uncharted, but not for lack of trying.

-- Breaching Leviathan, Magic: The Gathering
%
Beyond pain, beyond obsession and wild despair, there lies a place of twisted
power only the most tormented souls can reach.

-- In Garruk's Wake, Magic: The Gathering
%
Your pleas for death shall go unheard.

-- It That Betrays, Magic: The Gathering
%
When it walked, it altered geography. When it bellowed, it changed the weather.

-- Krosan Colossus, Magic: The Gathering
%
No thought but hunger. No strategy but destruction.

-- Pathrazer of Ulamog, Magic: The Gathering
%
"You have not died until I consent."

-- Reya Dawnbringer, Magic: The Gathering
%
"I heard her talking in her sleep - pleading, shrieking, snarling. It was not my
daughter's voice. That is not my daughter." -- Ekatrin, elder of Hanweir

The fiend tormented them by recounting the girl's memories, as if some part of
her remained inside that twisted shell.

-- Cloistered Youth / Unholy Fiend, Magic: The Gathering
%
The behemoth roared, and the world was blasted free of empires and tyrants.

-- Realm Razer, Magic: The Gathering
%
I am in love with high far-seeing places
That look on plains half-sunlight and half-storm,-
In love with hours when from the circling faces
Veils pass, and laughing fellowship glows warm.
You who look on me with grave eyes where rapture
And April love of living burn confessed,-
The Gods are good! The world lies free to capture!
Life has no walls. O take me to your breast!
Take me,-be with me for a moment's span!-
I am in love with all unveiled faces.
I seek the wonder at the heart of man;
I would go up to the far-seeing places.
While youth is ours, turn toward me for a space
The marvel of your rapture-lighted face!

-- I Am In Love With High Far-Seeing Places, Arthur Davidson Ficke
%
Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-- Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson
%
And death shall have no dominion. 
Dead men naked they shall be one 
With the man in the wind and the west moon; 
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone, 
They shall have stars at elbow and foot; 
Though they go mad and shall be sane, 
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; 
Though lovers be lost love shall not; 
And death shall have no dominion. 

And death shall have no dominion. 
Under the windings of the sea 
They lying long shall not die windily; 
Twisting on racks when sinews gave way, 
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break; 
Faith in their hands shall snap in two, 
And the unicorn evils run them through; 
Split all ends up they shan't crack; 
And death shall have no dominion. 

And death shall have no dominion. 
No more may gulls cry at their ears 
Or waves break loud on the seashores; 
Where blew a flower may a flower no more 
Lift its head to the blows of the rain; 
Though they be mad and dead as nails, 
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies; 
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down, 
And death shall have no dominion.

-- "And Death Shall Have No Dominion", Dylan Thomas
%
"You've seen what this thing does to any man who touches it. That's why the
Empress had to make me look like a girl just so I could pick it up. If I keep
it, I'll never be a king."

"A queen, then. It's power that rules kingdoms, lass, not just men."

-- The Empress Sword, Paulette Jaxton
%
How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing
to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day,
and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of
people are awakened and stirred to action?

-- Last words of Sophie Scholl
%
Civilize the mind but make savage the body.

-- Chinese saying
%
To us, the Carmpan watchers, the withdrawn seers and touchers of minds, it
appeared that you had carried the crushing weight of war through all your
history knowing that it would at last be needed, that this hour would strike
when nothing less awful would serve. 
When the hour struck and our enemy came without warning, you were ready with
swarming battle-fleets. You were dispersed and dug in on scores of planets, and
heavily armed. Because you were, some of you and some of us are now alive.

-- Berserker, Fred Saberhagen
%
War endures. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The
ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.

-- Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
%
"Species 5618: Human. Warp capable. Origin: Grid 325. Physiology inefficient,
below average cranial capacity, minimal redundant systems, limited regenerative
abilities. Our previous attempts to assimilate them were all direct assaults.
They failed."

-- The Borg Queen, Star Trek: Voyager
%
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great
power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every
foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and
the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of
the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

-- Revelations 18:1-3
%
Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath
stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did
tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this
his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

-- Isaiah 5:25
%
Then builded they the city of David with a great and strong wall, and with
mighty towers, and made it a strong hold for them.

And they put therein a sinful nation, wicked men, and fortified themselves
therein.

-- 1 Maccabees 1:33-34
%
Quench not the Spirit.

-- 1 Thessalonians 5:19
%
Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not
the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew
not near to her God.

-- Zephaniah 3:1-2
%
And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations
fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup
of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

-- Revelations 16:19
%
A false balance [is] abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

-- Proverbs 11:1
%
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, Let every man be swift to hear, Slow to speak,
slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

-- James 1:19-20
%
Unidentified Figure: How many, hee hee hee, how many entities were swallowed by
Site-13? (Laughs) You silly silly out of place boy. Silly little boy. Everything
made its way into Site-13. If the Foundation could find it and the Coalition
could catch it, it was fed into the meat grinder down here. Everything. They
mulched us all, if there was nothing to gain. Some got lucky. Bobble got lucky.
Stuffed in a funny box and played with. Toyed with. Experimented with. To see
what sounds we made when we wanted to die. Others were not so lucky. (Pauses)
They burned the Library, you know. Held it upside down like a can of soup and
let the contents run out into the furnace, and burned the whole place up. They
did other things, too. Worse things. Daddy Emerson liked it. He watched it all,
everytime. Got his jollies off watching it. (Spits)

AP-3 Ross: What worse things?

The unidentified figure approaches the camera and comes fully into view,
illuminated by the red light. A significant portion of its body is distorted by
video static that moves as it moves. This static appears to be cutting into the
tissue of the figure's body, creating large lacerations that ooze a dark yellow
fluid. As it moves, the figure appears to be sloughing off large portions of its
mass, which are replaced with static. Half of its face sloughs off as it nears
the camera, and one eye becomes shrouded in static.

Unidentified Figure: Every worse thing.

-- SCP-1730 Exploration & Recovery Log, SCP Wiki
%
We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.

-- The Green Hills of Earth, Robert Heinlein
%
Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay
eager.

-- Susan Sontag
%
Learn to say no. Not all things are right for the soul.

-- Anonymous
%
She can still hear whispers of the wild God in her blood.

-- Clarissa Pinkola Estes
%
I have thought of you often since the darkness, - though we cannot assist
another's night. I have hoped you were saved.

-- Emily Dickinson
%
Behind machines there is a technology of know-how, a way of looking at the
world and coping with it.

-- konrad@netbase.t0.or.at on nettime, 1997-05-16
%
All space is occupied by the enemy. We are living under a permanent curfew.
Not just the cops - the geometry.

-- Raoul Vaneigem
%
I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness
for it shows me the stars.

-- Og Mandino
%
The Fates tried to cut her string but found the thread had turned to iron.

-- Mortal's Resolve, Magic: The Gathering
%
The "nomadic war machine" conquers without being noticed and moves on before
the map can be adjusted.

-- TAZ: Temporary Autonomous Zone, Hakim Bey
%
Every network has its weak points, the nodes that must be undone in order to
interrupt circulation, to unwind the web. The last great European electrical
blackout proved it: a single incident with a high-tension wire and a decent
part of the continent was plunged into darkness.

-- The Coming Insurrection, Comite Invisible
%
There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you
so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even tacitly take part.
And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the
levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got
to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless
you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."

-- Mario Savio, speech at Berkeley, December 2, 1964
%
With this new "megatechnics" the dominant minority will create a uniform,
all-enveloping, super-planetary structure, designed for automatic operation.
Instead of functioning actively as an autonomous personality, man will become
a passive, purposeless, machine-conditioned animal whose proper functions, as
technicians now interpret man's role, will either be fed into the machine or
strictly limited and controlled for the benefit of depersonalized, collective
organizations."

-- The Myth of the Machine, Lewis Mumford
%
Beware of leaders, heroes, organizers: watch that stuff. Beware of
structure-freaks. They do not understand.

We know The System doesn't work because we're living in its ruins.
We know that leaders don't work out because they have all led us only to
the present, the good leaders equally with the bad.

...

Watch out for cats who want to play The System's games, 'cause you can't beat
The System at its own games, & you know that. Why should we trade one
Establishment for another Establishment?

Do your thing. Be what you are. If you don't know what you are, find out.

Fuck leaders.

-- "Sheep? Baa.", anon Digger publication, April 4 1967
%
Finally, if the self was the ultimate driver of social change, and if class
was no more, then individual lifestyle choices became political acts, and both
consumption and lifestyle technologies - including information technologies -
would have to take on a newly political valence.

-- From Cyberculture to Counterculture, Fred Turner
%
I have seen them, spoken to them, loved them.
They are hiding in the mist and the ferns until our civilisation stops.
Today they are the Homeless - tomorrow -

-- The Machine Stops, E. M. Forster
%
You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you
grew up in.

-- Unknown
%
Il est plus aisé de dire des choses nouvelles que de concilier celles qui ont
été dites.

-- Vauvenargues, Réflexions et Maximes
%
The society whose modernisation has reached the stage of integrated spectacle is
characterised by the combined effect of five principal factors: incessant
technological renewal, integration of state and economy, generalised secrecy,
unanswerable lies, and eternal present.

-- Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle
%
People who talk about revolution and class struggle without referring explicitly
to everyday life, without understanding what is subversive about love and what
is positive in the refusal of constraints, such people have corpses in their
mouths.

-- Raoul Vaneigm, The Revolution of Everyday Life
%
You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be
the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.

-- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
%
All sins are attempts to fill voids.

-- Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
%
The idea that history ended, and that the market sorts that out, and that the
Pentagon bombs it if that doesn't work - it's gone. The situation now is one of
growing disorder. A failed state, a potentially failed globe, a collapsed WTO, a
collapsed Copenhagen, financial collapses, lifeboat economics, transition to
nowhere. Historical narrative, it is simply no longer mapped onto the objective
facts of the decade. The maps in our hands don't match the territory, and that's
why we are upset...What we are facing over a decade is a decade of emergency
rescue, of resiliency, of attempts at sustainability, rather than some kind of
clear march toward advanced heights of civilization. We are into an era of decay
and repurposing of broken structures, of new social inventions within networks,
a world of 'Gothic High-Tech' and 'Favela Chic' (as I've called it), a crooked
networked bazaar of history and futurity, rather than a cathedral of history,
and a utopia of futurity.

That's just the situation on the ground. I don't want to belabor this point. I
don't want to go on and on about the fact that this is a new historical
situation. If you don't get it by now, you will be forced to get it; you will
have no other choice.

-- Bruce Sterling, Atemporality for the Creative Artist, 2010
%
The problem isn't whether or not, as I find myself being asked lately "we have
a future", but that we do, absolutely, have a future.

-- William Gibson
%
Such loyalty can only be made.

-- Adaptive Automaton, Magic: the Gathering
%
With a single act of bravery, she went from expendable to indispensable.

-- Chasm Guide, Magic: the Gathering
%
"These are your streets. Defend them!
This is your neighborhood. Honor it!
This is your city. Save it!"

-- Civic Stalwart, Magic: the Gathering
%
There is considerable evidence that great empires and civilizations have been
undone not by barbarian invaders but by climatic change.

-- 1977 CIA Report
%
Most of the evils of life arise from man's being unable to sit still in a room.

-- Blaise Pascal
%
The crux... is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe seems to be
missing.

-- William J. Broad
%
It is a faith (not always justified) of theoretical physics that if man
proposed what is sufficiently elegant, nature, pleased and flattered, will say
yes.

-- Leon N. Cooper, Introduction to the Meaning & Structure of Physics
%
IT'S THE TWO GODDAMNED CULTURES AGAIN !*! Bit-brained nerdery on one side,
effete fin-de-siecle malaise on the other. And kingdoms of hybrid delight
abandoned in the middle.

-- Jonathan Burns, burns@latcs1.oz
%
*Real* wizards don't whine about how they paid their dues.

-- Quentin Johnson, quent@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu
%
Software is the heart and soul of a computer company.

-- Ken Olsen, DEC President
%
And it does matter.  An honest man or woman is an honest man or woman more
because he or she is honest in the small, everyday things that "don't matter"
individually, but which make up a well-lived life, than because of some single
great temptation that was passed.  A person who is concerned about individual
rights or about individual dignity makes his or her difference not because of
any sweeping great statement or action, but because of the accretion of small,
individually seemingly insignificant acts that spread that dignity and confirm
those rights through every action they take.  It matters because every action
you take, and every action I take is an expression of the human spirit.

-- William Oliver, oliver@uncmed.med.unc.edu
%
A formal parsing algorithm should not always be used.

-- David Gries
%
Whether or not this really works is open to speculation.

-- sail(6)
%
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be
rewarded.

-- 2 Chronicles 15:7
%
The unspoken ideology of capitalism didn’t admit, back then, of any corporate
duty beyond making a return on investment for the shareholders while obeying the
law. Then the terrible teens hit, with a global recession followed by a
stuttering shock wave of corporate scandals as rock-ribbed enterprises were
exposed as hollow husks run by conscience-free predators who were even less
community-minded and altruistic than gangsters. The ravenous supermarket chains
had gutted the entire logistic and retail sector, replacing high-street banks
and post offices as well as food stores and gas stations, recklessly destroying
community infrastructure; manufacturers had outsourced production to the
cheapest overseas bidders, hollowing out the middle-class incomes on which
consumer capitalism depended: The prison-industrial complex, higher education,
and private medical sectors were intent on milking a public purse that no longer
had a solid tax base with which to pay. Maximizing short-term profit worked
brilliantly for sociopathic executives looking to climb the promotion ladder—but
as a long-term strategy for stability, a spiraling Gini coefficient left a lot
to be desired.

-- Charles Stross, Rule 34
%
don't fall into a bottomless pit

-- random fortune from larn(6)
%
"Greetings", says the kindly Internal Security self incrimination expert who
meets you at the door, "How are we doing today?"

-- paranoia(6)
%
Charge your soul and let the electrons sing.

-- Riskrunner, Destiny 2
%
We outnumber you. We will find you. You are alone, and we are colony.

-- The Colony, Destiny 2
%
A Guardian's power makes a rich feeding ground. Do not be revolted. There are
parasites that may benefit the host... teeth sharper than your own.

-- Whisper of the Worm, Destiny 2
%
A single strike can alter the course of history.

-- Worldline Zero, Destiny 2
%
Conflict Resolution Solution #3479: Leave them to rest wherever they may fall.

-- Actium War Rig, Destiny 2
%
Whoever survives our passing does so only by our consent.

-- Crest of Alpha Lupi, Destiny 2
%
"He walked out into the demon light. But at the end he was brighter." - Paean to
Saint-14

-- Helm of Saint-14, Destiny 2
%
I am a shield unto myself.

-- Stronghold, Destiny 2
%
"Sometimes the difference between survival and eradication is just pure, simple
stubbornness." - The Drifter

-- Ancient Apocalypse Gauntlets, Destiny 2
%
"Sometimes it's a cosmic event. Sometimes it's a beast from hell. Sometimes it's
one man." - The Drifter

-- Ancient Apocalypse Plate, Destiny 2
%
Regardless of what we were, we inherently know what we must become.

-- Primal Siege Type 1, Destiny 2
%
There comes a whisper in an ancient tongue: "You are worthy. Remember us."

-- Baseline Mark, Destiny 2
%
We should never have let ourselves be cornered. We could have dispersed
centuries ago.

-- Firebreak Field, Destiny 2
%
Some paths can't be untread.

-- No Turning Back, Destiny 2
%
There is but one thing of real value -- to cultivate truth and justice, and to
live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men.

-- Marcus Aurelius, ca. C.E. 170
%
You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.

-- John Morley, C.E. 1874
%
A State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments
in its hands even for beneficial purposes - will find that with small men no
great thing can really be accomplished.

-- John Stuart Mill, C.E. 1859
%
I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to
tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have
been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the
money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon
the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and
the Republic is destroyed.

-- Abraham Lincoln, C.E. 1865
%
Judge if you want. We are all going to die some day. I intend to deserve it.

-- Anonymous
%
It is every citizen's final duty to go into the tanks and become one with all
the people.

-- Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Ethics for Tomorrow", Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
%
You are the children of a dead planet, EarthDeirdre, and this death we do not
comprehend. We shall take you in, but may we ask this question--will we too
catch the planetdeath disease?

-- Lady Deirdre Skye, "Conversations with Planet", Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
%
The managers always talked about the view from 30,000 feet. The problem with
30,000 feet though, was at that height, all of the people look like ants.

-- Foreman Domai, "Genejack and the Beanstalk", Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
%
I sit in my cubicle, here on the motherworld. When I die, they will put my body
in a box and dispose of it in the cold ground. And in all the million ages to
come, I will never breathe, or laugh, or twitch again. So won't you run and play
with me here among the teeming mass of humanity? The universe has spared us this
moment.

-- Anonymous, Datalinks, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
%
Nostalgia as a weapon of war. Style as a hallmark of victory.

-- SUROS Regime, Destiny 2
%
"The final stand is wherever I plant my feet. Not one step more." -- Saint-14

-- Bastion, Destiny 2
%
"Shame. Guilt. Fear. We all bear them. Gather your regrets, purge them as best
you can. Let your enemies feel the weight of your burdens." -- Ada-1

-- Izanagi's Burden, Destiny 2
%
"Can't outrun the sunrise." -- Liu Feng

-- Sunshot, Destiny 2
%
Light is a spectrum. Why limit yourself to a single hue?

-- Borealis, Destiny 2
%
Watch your people, mark their strengths, and be ready to call on them.

-- Hardy's Calm, Destiny 2
%
"No matter how big your champion, theirs is bigger. No matter how great your
numbers, theirs are greater. No matter how voracious your appetite, they are
hungrier. That is why the Eldrazi will win." -- Kalitas, thrall of Ulamog

-- Eldrazi Devastator, Magic: the Gathering
%
His mission has become a grim pilgrimage, a tour of the Eldrazi-stricken
outposts across Zendikar. But he marches on alone, stubborn as the daily dawn.

-- Lone Missionary, Magic: the Gathering
%
No one spoke. There was no need. The threat of the Eldrazi presented a simple
choice: lay down your weapons and die for nothing, or hold them fast and die for
something.

-- Time of Heroes, Magic: the Gathering
%
Not all heroes die in armor.

-- Blessed Spirits, Magic: the Gathering
%
"Sometimes the only difference between a martyr and a hero is a sword."
-- Captain Sisay, Memoirs

-- Short Sword, Magic: the Gathering
%
Good dogs stay by your side until the end. Great dogs leave to bring back aid.

-- Supply Runners, Magic: the Gathering
%
The gods are not always kind, but they do have a soft spot for plucky underdogs.

-- Timely Reinforcements, Magic: the Gathering
%
When the established order falters, what remains are ordinary people and their
struggle to survive.

-- Hero of Precinct One, Magic: the Gathering
%
A friend in good times, a guardian in bad times, and a savior when all else
fails.

-- Resolute Watchdog, Magic: the Gathering
%
She raised him from an orphaned pup and gave him a life of love. With his last
act, he thanked her.

-- Selfless Savior, Magic: the Gathering
%
He had the unique opportunity to watch Conina fight. Not many men ever got to
see it twice.

Her opponents started off grinning at the temerity of a slight young girl
attacking them, and then rapidly passed through various stages of puzzlement,
doubt, concern, and abject gibbering terror as they apparently became the center
of a flashing, tightening circle of steel.

-- Sourcery, Terry Pratchett
%
Every time someone loves themselves better, builds their self-awareness,
understands their patterns, improves their ability to communicate and expands
their compassion for others the future of humanity grows brighter. Your healing
makes a difference.

-- Yung Pueblo
%
More than anything else, being able to feel safe with other people defines
mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying
lives.

-- The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk
%
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

-- Isaiah 58:6
%
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there
enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and
thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to
the kingdom for such a time as this?

-- Esther 4:14
%
They return from fields afar. The eye has passed, the end nears. Do not fade
quietly. Let thunder reign again.

-- Thunderlord, Destiny 2
%
I can be anyone you wish, o murderer mine.

-- One Thousand Voices, Destiny 2
%
"I've forgotten so much of my past life, of my family. But when I hold this
rifle, everything feels right. I feel like... I'm home." -- Ana Bray

-- Polaris Lance, Destiny 2
%
Nothin' in the world that 30 rounds can't solve.

-- The Huckleberry, Destiny 2
%
There are those who believe the Traveler chose Earth for a reason. Now it is
humanity's obligation to prove itself worthy of the Traveler's faith.

-- Destiny 2
%
The authentic human being is one of us who instinctively knows what he should
not do, and, in addition, he will balk at doing it. He will refuse to do it,
even if this brings down dread consequences to him and to those whom he loves.
This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to
the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance. Their deeds
may be small, and almost always unnoticed, unmarked by history. Their names are
not remembered, nor did these authentic humans expect their names to be
remembered. I see their authenticity in an odd way: not in their willingness to
perform great heroic deeds but in their quiet refusals. In essence, they cannot
be compelled to be what they are not.

-- Philip K. Dick, How to Build a Universe
%
Humans are survivors, tough and resilient, descended from those who built a
Golden Age only to see it ripped away. Now, after an age of retreat and
desperate struggle, they fight to take back their solar system and claim a new
future.

-- Grimoire: Humans, Destiny
%
This was our world, our solar system. We were here first. And no matter what the
Darkness brings, we will be here at the dawn.
-- Grimoire: Humanity, Destiny
%
The shadow of the candle looms tall even as its light grows dim.

-- Death's Shadow, Magic: The Gathering
%
"Of course it offered you power. Demons always do. But trust me - the sweeter
the prize, the more ruinous the price." -- Professor Onyx

-- Daemogoth Titan, Magic: The Gathering
%
"If you must die today, make your death worthy of legend." -- Alesha, Who
Smiles At Death

-- Arcbond, Magic: The Gathering
%
His verdict is always guilty. His sentence is always death.

-- Butcher of Malakir, Magic: The Gathering
%
Death has bound it with chains of past regrets. Forever it searches for
atonement, each kindness removing a single link.

-- Chapel Geist, Magic: The Gathering
%
The courageous accomplish more in a single moment than the cowardly do in a
lifetime.

-- Gallantry, Magic: The Gathering
%
Life needs no encouragement.

-- Overgrowth, Magic: The Gathering
%
Life inspires technology, which expands life's domain.

-- Botanical Sanctum, Magic: The Gathering
%
Life will find a way, or it will make one.

-- Brambleweft Behemoth, Magic: The Gathering
%
"No life is without meaning. No living thing is too small to be strong."

-- Healer of the Pride, Magic: The Gathering
%
This body still stirs, these lungs draw breath!

-- The Abomination, Darkest Dungeon
%
This struggle may never end but I will not give in now!

-- The Abomination, Darkest Dungeon
%
A steady heart makes for a steady hand.

-- The Arbalest, Darkest Dungeon
%
The trumpeter sounds the call! Great deeds arise!

-- The Crusader, Darkest Dungeon
%
Now you shall know how bright the Light!

-- The Crusader, Darkest Dungeon
%
My every step sanctifies this unholy earth!

-- The Crusader, Darkest Dungeon
%
Now, bear witness to my unchained soul!

-- The Hellion, Darkest Dungeon
%
We are here, foes. Come make your end.

-- The Hellion, Darkest Dungeon
%
Madness or willpower. Either works.

-- The Jester, Darkest Dungeon
%
The blackest night yields to brightest dawn.

-- The Leper, Darkest Dungeon
%
We have become as steel.

-- The Leper, Darkest Dungeon
%
I am your wall! Fear nothing!

-- The Man-at-Arms, Darkest Dungeon
%
Foolishness, this fear! I deny it utterly!

-- The Occultist, Darkest Dungeon
%
One quieted mind can defeat all the world's ills.

-- The Occultist, Darkest Dungeon
%
GO FORTH, KINDLING, AND BURN IN STARFIRE.

-- The Occultist, Darkest Dungeon
%
The corpus responds! Wounds heal - scars fade!

-- The Plague Doctor, Darkest Dungeon
%
Armor is no defense against plague.

-- The Plague Doctor, Darkest Dungeon
%
I will heal this afflicted land.

-- The Plague Doctor, Darkest Dungeon
%
No one may kill that which defies death.

-- The Plague Doctor, Darkest Dungeon
%
Death floats on the wind... nests in my hand.

-- The Plague Doctor, Darkest Dungeon
%
I cannot be extinguished when fire burns within.

-- The Vestal, Darkest Dungeon
%
It is as the Versebook says: purity is power.

-- The Vestal, Darkest Dungeon
%
I set my soul aflame. Nothing can extinguish it.

-- The Vestal, Darkest Dungeon
%
Evil desires its own destruction!

-- The Shieldbreaker, Darkest Dungeon
%
Power is not about strength, but about timing.

-- The Shieldbreaker, Darkest Dungeon
%
Currently, I see a similar battle playing out for our time, a colonization of
the self by capitalist ideas of productivity and efficiency. One might say the
parks and libraries of the self are always about to be turned into condos.

-- Jenny Odell, How To Do Nothing
%
... time becomes an economic resource that we can no longer justify spending on
"nothing." It provides no return on investment; it is simply too expensive.

-- Jenny Odell, How To Do Nothing
%
Unless there’s something specifically about you or your job that requires it,
there is nothing to be admired about being constantly connected, constantly
potentially productive the second you open your eyes in the morning — and in my
opinion, no one should accept this, not now, not ever. In the words of Othello:
"Leave me but a little to myself."

-- Jenny Odell, How To Do Nothing
%
This regime is not founded on the repression of dissent; nor does it rest on the
enforcement of the silence. On the contrary, it relies on the proliferation of
chatter, the irrelevance of opinion and discourse, and on making thought,
dissent and critique banal and ridiculous. Even though there have been and will
continue to be instances of censorship and direct repression of critical and
free thought, these phenomena are rather marginal when compared to what is
essentially an immense informational overload and an actual siege of attention,
combined with the occupation of the sources of information by the head of the
company.

-- Franco Berardi Bifo, After the Future
%
Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is
an act of political warfare.

-- Audre Lorde
%
Two basic systems: Development and Maintenance. The sourball of every
revolution: after the revolution, who's going to pick up the garbage on Monday
morning?

-- Mierle Ladermal Ukeles, Manifesto for Maintenance Art
%
Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

-- Lamentations 5:7
%
"We can wait like helpless children for a hero, or we can gather our courage and
be the heroes. Who's with me?"

-- Militia Rallier, Magic: the Gathering
%
The understanding of the theory of a routine may be greatly aided by providing,
at the time of construction one or two statements concerning the state of the
machine at well chosen points. ... In the extreme form of the theoretical
method a watertight mathematical proof is provided for the assertions. In the
extreme form of the experimental method the routine is tried out on the machine
with a variety of initial conditions and is pronounced fit if the assertions
hold in each case.

Both methods have their weaknesses.

-- Alan Turing, Ferranti Mark I Programming Manual (1950)
%
People speak of hope as if it is this delicate, ephemeral thing made of whispers
and spider's webs. It's not. Hope has dirt on her face, blood on her knuckles,
the grit of the cobblestones in her hair, and just spat out a tooth as she rises
for another go.

-- @CrowsFault, Twitter
%
"A leader can inspire courage, but it is the smiths and healers who truly keep
hope alive." -- Thalia, heretic cathar

-- Cathar's Shield, Magic: the Gathering
%
"My greatest hope is that you will surpass me in every way, consigning my name
to some forgotten corner of history."

-- Eldar Cathar, Magic: the Gathering
%
"It's not that I didn't expect some defiance, but I did hope it wouldn't be so
heavily armed." -- Olivia Voldaren

-- Resistance Squad, Magic: the Gathering
%
A beacon of hope for a battered army.

-- Reya Dawnbringer, Magic: the Gathering
%
Enemies are also our brothers and our sisters. Notice please that I am not
denying that we have enemies, real enemies, who are wicked, twisted, violent,
and dangerous. But it is a Christian conviction that all of that evil is not
telling the deepest truth about the enemy. The deepest truth is that he or she
is a child of God, and thus worthy of our love.

-- Robert Barron, Centered: The Spirituality of Word On Fire
%
All you can do for another person is be an environment in which if they wanted
to come up for air, they could.

-- Ram Dass
%
There is no escape - we pay for the violence of our ancestors.

-- Frank Herbert, Dune
%
I miss you more than poets could make sound pretty. But I'm gonna keep living so
your story continues, no matter how bad the pain gets. I'm gonna pass this heart
you gave me to every person I meet on the street. I'm gonna give them what you
gave me. I'm gonna do my best to make them happy.

This is the closest I can give you to eternity.

-- R.I.D., We Don't Have A Compass But I'm Sure We'll Find Home
%
Great heroes can be found even here, in the mud and rain.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
A little hope, however desperate, is never without worth.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
In the end, every plan relies upon a strong arm and tempered steel.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
Fan the flames! Mold the metal! We are raising an army!

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
Alone in the woods or tunnels, survival is the same. Prepare, persist, and
overcome.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
Driving out corruption is an endless battle, but one that must be fought.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
Some experiments should have never happened. You are doing just work, ending
them.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
Do not ruminate on this fleeting failure - the campaign is long, and victory
will come.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
The way is lit. The path is clear. We require only the strength to follow it.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
The blood pumps, the limbs obey!

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
Many fall in the face of chaos, but not this one. Not today.

-- Narrator, Darkest Dungeon
%
I say all this because hope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa
and clutch, feeling lucky. I say it because hope is an ax you break down doors
with in an emergency; because hope should shove you out the door, because it
will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from
the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and
marginal. Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not
guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope.

-- Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
%
It is not necessary to teach others, to cure them or to improve them; it is only
necessary to live among them, sharing the human condition and being present to
them in love.

-- Charles de Foucauld
%
To live in the body of a survivor is to never be able to leave the scene of a
crime. I cannot ignore the fact that I live here.

-- Blythe Baird, To Live In The Body Of A Survivor
%
We will continually construct movements based on love.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Manhattan
%
Decolonize this place.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Manhattan
%
You are on native land.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Manhattan
%
This place will be water.

-- Extinction Rebellion, poster in Manhattan
%
Fuck your phone - keep your head up!

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Manhattan
%
You shifted with the axis of the night, giving up flesh for the heartbeat of a
much bigger sky.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Manhattan
%
What do you love most about yourself?

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Vancouver
%
Tell someone that you love them.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Vancouver
%
Look for good, and you will find it.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Vancouver
%
Dig deep. You have the strength.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Vancouver
%
Your boss should be afraid of you.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Chicago
%
Fear nothing. Attack everything.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Chicago
%
New testament in the streets. Old testament in the sheets.

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Seattle
%
We'll avenge all of our imprisoned siblings!

-- Anonymous, graffiti in Sydney
%
"Wrath is no vice when inflicted upon the deserving."

-- Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Magic: the Gathering
%
Each day, he devours us a little more... each day, we feast at his banquet.

-- The Painslinger, Othercide
%
Cut them down until your blade rusts with gore. Sanctify every bullet fired with
the lifeblood of your enemies. Shield your souls with spear and aegis. Never
stop, not for mercy nor rest, for your enemy is relentless and you must be
tireless.

-- Mother, Othercide
%
Remember this: nothing counts as much as blood. May each bullet be sanctified
with the blood of your enemies. And, if you can, aim between the eyes.

-- Mother, Othercide
%
Discipline is your sword. Never back off, and slay the enemy until your blade
grows rusty with his blood. The Veil must be protected by any means necessary.

-- Mother, Othercide
%
Protect your companions, consider their lives above yours. Each scar is a new
medal. Your shield protects the body, your body protects the soul.

-- Mother, Othercide
%
To make bread or love, to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a
stranger - these activities require no extensive commentary, no lucid theology.
All they require is someone willing to bend, reach, chop, stir. Most of these
tasks are so full of pleasure that there is no need to complicate things by
calling them holy. And yet these are the same activities that change lives,
sometimes all at once and sometimes more slowly, the way dripping water changes
stone. In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily
practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life.

-- Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith
%
Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be
still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the
Lord.

-- Psalm 4 4-5
%
It is helpful to remember that life is brief and coldness and cruelty are never
warranted, that when we die we all return to the same earth beneath the same
skies.

-- godinourhands, tumblr
%
Be living proof of a loving God.

-- unknown
%
Tenacity prevails when hopes die.

-- Abnormal Endurance, Magic: the Gathering
%
In the face of extinction, the most perilous endeavors can be cause for hope.

-- Akoum Flameseeker, Magic: the Gathering
%
Dawn brings a new day, and a new day brings hope.

-- Renewing Dawn, Magic: the Gathering
%
I manifestly do believe that we have arrived at a 'final conflict' that will
decide the survival of a large part of poor humanity over the next half century.
Against this future we must fight like the Red Army in the rubble of Stalingrad.
Fight with hope, fight without hope, but fight absolutely.

-- Mike Davis, Interview
%
The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature
is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but
she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate. This gives
to the typically Christian pleasure in this earth a strange touch of lightness
that is almost frivolity. Nature was a solemn mother to the worshippers of Isis
and Cybele. Nature was a solemn mother to Wordsworth or to Emerson. But Nature
is not solemn to Francis of Assisi or to George Herbert. To St. Francis, Nature
is a sister, and even a younger sister: a little, dancing sister, to be laughed
at as well as loved.

-- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
%
We who still have air in our lungs are the living dead, and struggle daily to
remember what it feels like to be alive, holding tightly to the "desire for
wildness that the misery of a paycheck cannot allay."

-- Serafinski, Blessed is the Flame
%
You always have more resources, and more reserves.

-- Asymmetric Force, Destiny 2
%
A lot can happen in 72 hours. Three days can change the course of a hundred
lives.

-- Criticality of Quickness, Destiny 2
%
Some traditions are too good to be true.

-- Dawning Cheer, Destiny 2
%
The danger within is repulsive to us.

-- Delicate Tomb, Destiny 2
%
"No supplies. Armor in tatters. But the refugees had asked for help. And she had
given her word." — Tale of the Six Coyotes

-- Shinobu's Vow, Destiny 2
%
Keep your head up. You're still a Titan, after all.

-- Refugee Helm, Destiny 2
%
Titans honor their armor, no matter its strength.

-- Refugee Plate, Destiny 2
%
Let the thrill of the hunt drive you. That, and fear of extinction.

-- Wastelander Wraps, Destiny 2
%
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife - chopping off what's incomplete and
saying: "Now, it's complete because it's ended here."

-- Frank Herbert, Dune
%
Faith is fearful and defensive when it begins to die inwardly, struggling to
maintain itself and reaching out for security and guarantees. In so doing, it
removes itself from the hand of the one who has promised to maintain it, and its
own manipulations bring it to ruin. This pusillanimous faith usually occurs in
the form of an orthodoxy which feels threatened and is therefore more rigid than
ever. It occurs wherever, in the face of the immorality of the present age, the
gospel of creative love for the abandoned is replaced by the law of what is
supposed to be Christian morality, and by penal law. He who is of little faith
looks for support and protection for his faith, because it is preyed upon by
fear. Such a faith tries to protect its 'most sacred things', God, Christ,
doctrine and morality, because it clearly no longer believes that these are
sufficiently powerful to maintain themselves.

-- Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God
%
Evil is boring. Right? I kinda believe in the banality and mundaneness of evil.
Evil is just selfish impulses, which at the end of the day are really easy to
understand. It’s easy to understand why people do bad things. It’s like "yeah,
ok, you’re selfish and scared and cruel, I get it". Being good is complex and
beautiful and hard.

-- Brennan Lee Mulligan
%
Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren,
boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous,
intoxicating.

-- Simone Weil
%
Does it matter why Lot’s wife looked back? She looked back because she loved
her daughters. She looked back because she loved her home. She looked back
because she loved the past. She looked back because she loved the world.
Remember Lot’s wife: it’s intended as a warning, but I have adopted it as a
creed. When the world burns, I will fill my eyes with as much of it as I
possibly can. I can think of no greater honor than to remain on the earth. You
are worth turning around for. You are worth transformation. You are the heat
that lights the match that lights the hearth that warms me. You are everything.

-- Unknown, attributed to "Amelia K", via soracities.tumblr.com
%
Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant,
dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship
by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the
splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living
fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than the
voice of compassion - its message becomes meaningless.

-- Abraham Joshua Heschel, God In Search Of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism
%
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

-- Micah 6:8
%
We seldom admit the seductive comfort of hopelessness. It saves us from
ambiguity. It has an answer for every question – there’s just no point. Hope, on
the other hand, is messy. If it might all work out, then we have things to do.
We must weather the possibility of happiness.

-- Jarod Anderson, interviewed by Leave No Trace
%
No love, however brief, is wasted.

-- Louise Miller, @louisethebaker on Twitter
%
Hopepunk is the cold hard knowledge that wallowing in despair while the world
burns does nothing to mitigate the situation and that the only logical course of
action is to fight back. It is, in essence, disillusionment with
disillusionment.

-- Anonymous, tumblr
%
I have disobeyed worse than you. The world does not die on my watch.

-- asteroidtroglodyte, tumblr
%
If it can't be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished,
resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or
removed from production.

-- Pete Seeger
%
"There's nothing technology can build that nature can't eventually reclaim." -
Vivien Reid

-- Artifact Mutation, Magic: the Gathering
%
"Duty, honor, and valor are either in your heart or they are not. You will never
know for certain until you are tested." - Ajani Goldmane

-- Show of Valor, Magic: the Gathering
%
When male pastors call on us to recover something called "biblical manhood" I
suspect they're not thinking of the silent, loyal Joseph submitting himself
humbly to his wife’s God-given calling.

-- Michael Frost, @michaelfrost6 on Twitter
%
You must realize that something is happening to you, that life has not forgotten
you, that it holds you in its hand and will not fall.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet
%
I do believe that the only hell that could possibly exist is the one of which
those Christian contemplatives speak: the hatred within each of us that turns
the love of others - of God and neighbor - into torment. A hardened heart is
already its own punishment; the refusal to love or be loved makes the love of
others - or even just their presence - a source of suffering.

-- David Bentley Hart, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal
   Salvation
%
having to come to terms with the fact that love is not an everlasting
performance in which you attempt to retain the attention of your significant
other but rather a release of control and putting faith into them and trusting
them to choose to stay with you no matter what you have to offer

to love and be loved is to rest

-- howelljenkins, tumblr
%
Haha, what a wicked and ironic comment bro. Now try saying something true and
beautiful.

-- @TageErlinger on Twitter
%
I want it back = I drag its dead weight forward

-- jb-blunk, tumblr
%
gentle reminder: you are very capable and I'm excited for your future
slightly less gentle reminder: you do have to work for it

-- study-revolution, tumblr
%