#badtimes — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Molly Ivins

Things are not getting worse; things have always been this bad. Nothing is more consoling than the long perspective of history. It will perk you up no end to go back and read the works of progressives past. You will learn therein that things back then were also terrible, and what’s more, they were always getting worse. This is most inspiriting.

Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1986-03), “How to Survive Reagan,” The Progressive, Vol. 50, No. 3

More about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/31928/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #badtimes #decline #downwardspiral #encouragement #history #lookingback #nadir #nostalgia #perspective #progressive #regress #worsening

A quotation from Brecht

Truly, I live in dark times!
The guileless word is folly. A smooth forehead
Suggests insensitivity. The man who laughs
Has simply not yet had
The terrible news.
–
What kind of times are they, when
A talk about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many horrors?
That man there calmly crossing the street
Is already perhaps beyond the reach of his friends
Who are in need?
 
[Wirklich, ich lebe in finsteren Zeiten!
Das arglose Wort ist töricht. Eine glatte Stirn
Deutet auf Unempfindlichkeit hin. Der Lachende
Hat die furchtbare Nachricht
Nur noch nicht empfangen.
–
Was sind das für Zeiten, wo
Ein Gespräch über Bäume fast ein Verbrechen ist
Weil es ein Schweigen über so viele Untaten einschließt!
Der dort ruhig über die Straße geht
Ist wohl nicht mehr erreichbar für seine Freunde
Die in Not sind?]

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German poet, playwright, director, dramaturgist
Poem (1938 ca.), “To Those Born Later [An die Nachgeborenen],” sec. 1, Svendborger Gedichte (1939) [tr. Willet / Manheim / Fried (1976)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/brecht-berthold/8219…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #brecht #bertoltbrecht #badtimes #complicity #darkness #horror #ignorance #retreat #silence #terror #withdrawal

A quotation from Douglas Adams

MARVIN: The first ten million years were the worst. And the second ten million, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn’t enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 5th” (BBC Radio) (1978-04-05)

More about this quote: wist.info/adams-douglas/35056/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #douglasadams #hitchhikersguide #hitchhikersguidetothegalaxy #marvintheparanoidandroid #badtimes #complaint #depression #hyperbole #marchoftime #passageoftime #pessimism #waiting #worst