If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete

 --- attrib. to the Buddha by Jack Kornfield, cited to p. 28 in Kornfield's Buddha’s Little Instruction Book by Fake Buddha Quotes, via Anneliese Burgess in Klein glasies, aalwyne en egskeiding.

From Burgess

Kornfield praat oor die harde innerlike stem – wat hy die "innerlike kritikus" of "regter" noem. Dié stem spruit dikwels uit ons kinderjare se kondisionering. Ek is geneig om genadeloos krities teenoor myself te wees oor my mislukkings, struikelings, swakhede en brouwerk, en daar is báie daarvan.

Kornfield sê selfdeernis (ek sukkel met die selfhelptaal😁) is 'n "revolusionêre daad" in Westerse kultuur, waar ons geleer word dat streng wees met jouself die pad na verbetering is. Hy daag dit uit en sê innerlike groei is makliker wanneer ons ook sagter met onsself omgaan.

each thing, as far as it lies in itself, strives to persevere in its being

 --- Baruch Spinoza, Ethics, part 3, prop. 6, quoted in Wikipedia/conatus

Excerpt from the R. H. M. Elwes translation on Gutenberg.org

VI. Everything, in so far as it is in itself, endeavours to persist in its own being.

>>>>>Proof--Individual things are modes whereby the  attributes of God are expressed in a given determinate manner  (I. xxv.Cor.); that is, (I. xxxiv.), they are things which express  in a given determinate manner the power of God, whereby  God is and acts; now no thing contains in itself anything  whereby it can be destroyed, or which can take away its  existence (III. iv.); but contrariwise it is opposed to all that  could take away its existence (III. v.).  Therefore, in so far as  it can, and in so far as it is in itself, it endeavours to persist  in its own being.  Q.E.D. 

Your greatest obstacle is not being copied; it’s being ignored

 --- Will Parker Anderson, in How much content should you give away?, Writers Circle on Substack, 9 august 2025

Excerpt

Your greatest obstacle is not being copied; it’s being ignored. I don’t know any writers whose ideas were stolen before they could publish them (though I know this happens on rare occasions), but I know thousands who keep their ideas to themselves, thinking one day their moment will come.

Meanwhile, their ideas collect digital dust … unseen, unread, unknown.

Every time you share a piece of content (a note or post on Substack, an email newsletter, a chapter excerpt), think of it as a piece of kindling. The more fuel you provide, the higher the chance it will spark a reaction in your readers. 

like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls

--- (ascr. to) Anthropologist Matt Cartmill, e.g. by Quodid

Full quote

As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life — so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.

autumnal recrudescence of the amatory urge

 --- Via Mark Crawford, 7 Aug 2025: when juvenile birds start singing again in the fall. Mating is tied to day length, and so it feels like spring. The adults are wise to this, and don't sing.

From Christine Elder

"The theory about autumnal recrudescence is this: Some sex hormones are triggered to be released based on the hours of daylight, and certain hormones “inspire” a bird to sing. At some point, when the daylight hours of autumn match those of just the right time in spring, those hormones are re-triggered and drive some birds to sing for a short period in the fall."

Perhaps also applicable to old farts who buy a fast red car and go courting young women. 

Mark also shared another lovely phrase on this call: life is a “sexually transmitted terminal disease”