I always loved browsing such posts on reddit, so thought I should make one on lemmy too
Edit: Usually these kind of posts only used to have excerpts from books or ancient proverbs, but now I am seeing a lot more quotes from shows/movies/games are also resonating with people. It’s pretty cool to see.
Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Damn… that’s better that the muddy pig wrestling one and the pigeon chess one both.
Can’t argue with that
Whats the muddy pig wrestling one
Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it. George Bernard Shaw
Also copy/pasted from Goodreads, so not guaranteeing the accuracy that Shaw originally said it. Also usually worded in a more fun way.
What’s the pigeon one
“Arguing with idiots is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good you are, the bird is going to shit on the board and strut around like it won anyway.” Shannon L. Alder
Copy/pasted from Goodreads, I’m not actually verifying.
Am I wrong or is that George Carlin?
That was a great read, thank you!
That was a great read, thank you for that!
I took a long time to warm to this one. I used to think that if I could just make the right arguments people would agree with me. Eventually, I realised that even if they’re perfectly reasonable, natural language has a certain bitrate, and human memory has a certain bitrate of loss over a given timeframe. If you can’t explain your idea quickly one of you will hit it.
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.”
― Captain Jean-Luc Picard
My father, a union organiser: “You can love the company all you like, but the company will never love you back.”
Stood me in good stead down the years.
You’ve got to go through a round of redundancies/layoffs to learn this. No amount of telling some freebie-munching programmer will teach them. Source: I was a freebie-munching programmer.
And the acceptance beyond that is “… and that’s ok, it’s not the company’s job to love you, but don’t for a second be fooled into loyalty”.
Somwhat related quote from my father in law about being a good worker:
“First year, they like you. Second year, they love you. Third year, they just start using you”
That’s only partially true, especially if you think about the definition of ‘company.’
It is completely possible to be in a company that cares about you. Odds are it won’t be a publicly-traded one, though.
Nothing at work is personal, it’s all business. If you believe it’s personal you will get taken advantage by the company.
That’s not too say that there won’t be personal issues at work, just that the company doesn’t care about anything except the business.
In addition, HR isn’t there too protect the employees, they are there to protect the company.
Piss-poor planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on mine.
I dislike this one quite a bit. I’m a good planner, but we’re all human, and can forget sometimes. This quote is just an excuse to feel better about not helping someone out, and not in a healthy I’m-setting-boundaries manner.
I think there’s a difference between being a shitty person and being unwilling to help and being repeatedly used because you’ve helped out a couple of times before and now people end up leveraging your kindness. I personally subscribe to the line of thinking in the comment you replied to after giving the person I’m working with the benefit of the doubt that it’s a justified emergency a couple of times. I have a list of people at work now that I’ll still assist but I don’t jump at the opportunity as quickly because everything is an emergency to them and I think that’s just as shitty as not helping someone.
Just to clarify, I phrase it a bit differently: Not “piss-poor planning” but rather “a lack of planning” since it sounds less aggressive.
I think there’s a difference between being a shitty person and being unwilling to help and being repeatedly used because you’ve helped out a couple of times before and now people end up leveraging your kindness.
It’s two bad ends of a spectrum, really.
I disagree. The quote has an “I fucked up, what are you going to do about it?” vibe.
I think that’s why it says “emergency”. Asking for help is okay, dumping your problems over to me so it’s my “emergency” is not.
You can ask for help and give me some of your work, but not your responsibilities.
To be fair, my workplace is full of people that socialize 75% of the workday and constantly reply with “I’ll get around to it as soon as I can.”
…and then don’t.
And then I have to scramble to do their job when the task suddenly becomes more short-fused.
Thank gods I retire in a year.
I could be the bigger person and remind them about it, but it’s not my job to babysit peers and/or supervisors.
‘This is a you problem. Not an us problem.’
Related: Remember your PPPPPPPs! Proper planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance!
Corollary: Prior planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance.
“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.” -Anatole France
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.
Jean-Luc Picard
“The spaceships hung in the air, in much the same ways that bricks don’t” - Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy
I use this quote a lot when doing D&D Campaign prepping. It’s a fantastic example of a non-sensical sentence that somehow completely explains the subject
It takes a woman nine months to make a baby, nine women cannot make a baby in a month.
Classic (and likely mangled by myself) computer science quote which I always enjoy encountering in the wild!
If you want to travel fast, go alone; but if you want to travel far, go together.
It’s one of those African proverbs with an unknown origin but their emphasis on community has always been a guiding principle for me.
Not my whole life but ever since I learned it twenty years ago in the army. “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. It’s a saying that means to learn things carefully, slowly, and methodically. When you are learning like this speed will follow as a natural progression. So if you learn something slowly and smoothly it will translate into being quick and doing it correctly. I have applied this to all sorts of different things in life and it has never failed me.
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
Marcus Aurelius
Anyone who appreciates this one and hasn’t read the entirety of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations (compiled into book form) really should. Many gems of stoic wisdom therein.
When life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back. Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down… with the lemons! I’m gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!
- Cave Johnson, Portal 2
Maybe not words to live by, but certainly a memorable quote.
Maybe they’re not words to live by – if you’re a coward.
Unbelievable. You, [subject name here], must be the pride of [subject hometown here]!
All of his quotes are just great. My favorite:
All these science spheres are made of asbestos all the way. Keeps out the rats. Let us know if you feel a shortness of breath, a persistent dry cough, or your heart-stopping. Because that is not part of the test. That’s asbestos…Worst case scenario, you miss out on a few rounds of Canasta, plus you forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into a calculator, it makes a happy face.
Believe those who are seeking the truth, doubt those who find it
Just not everyone who claims to be seeking the truth!
Love this one. Reminds me of the quote “never stop looking for what’s not there.”
Don’t worry about it, you’re washable. - Dad
I was a germaphobe kid, and my dad was a mechanic. Oil and grease horrified me until for some reason that quote just stuck with me.
Something along the lines of:
‘You’re just an NPC in everyone else’ life, no one really cares about what weird shoes you wear, or whatever. No one’s remembering, don’t worry about it’
Really helps out in the world really, it’s kinda true.
