Day 193: Pride and Patriotism

It’s World Cup, and from time to time I hear the slogan that goes: “Proud to be [insert nation’s name]”, and every time I think to myself: “What the f*ck does that mean?”

“The cheapest sort of pride is national pride, for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud, otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his fellowmen. The man who is endowed with important personal qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short, since their failings will be constantly before his eyes. But every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which he belongs, he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

Day 155: Oscar Wilde’s quotes on marriage

Ouch, five eye-opening quotes at a time by Oscar Wilde.

Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.

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Day 98: Chungking Express

[He Zhiwu, Cop 223] Somehow everything comes with an expiry date. Swordfish expires. Meat sauce expires. Even cling-film expires. Is there anything in the world which doesn’t?

[He Zhiwu, Cop 223] We’re all unlucky in love sometimes. When I am, I go jogging. The body loses water when you jog, so you have none left for tears.

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Day 44: We were young and wild and free

Last year, a young guy who was then studying in Croatia announced on a Facebook group that he planned to travel from Europe back to Vietnam, by all means of transport (train, bus, tram, horse, on foot, hitchhiking, boat, ferry, dolphin, whatever) *except flying*. He expected to complete the trip in 6 months. Continue reading “Day 44: We were young and wild and free”

Day 5: Stranger than Fiction

Leonard ShelbyI have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can’t remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world’s still there. Do I believe the world’s still there? Is it still out there?… Yeah. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I’m no different.

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