Even better if you can provide your own understanding of its meaning.

Mine would be :

“Nothing kills a man as much as being forced to represent a country” (and err considering the context, I must stress it has nothing to do with the current US shitshow), by a WW1 soldier, illustrator and writer named Jacques Vaché.

For me it just means being forced into representing a group (national, of course, but maybe also social, racial, sexual, professional, any kind of group) or defining one’s identity only by reference to a group is to be avoided at all costs.

Note : Its not the same, imho, as engaging in a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.

How about you?

  • Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    2·
    17 hours ago

    “Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source” - Iroh

    And

    “Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.” - Hitchhikers Guide

    Dont think about things too much. Just accept it, and change accordingly with a response

    • Cadenza@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      9 hours ago

      Also from H2G2, behold the majestic : " -Perhaps I’m old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what’s actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, “Hang the sense of it,” and keep yourself busy. I’d far rather be happy than right any day.

      -And are you?

      -Ah. No. Well that’s where it all falls down, of course "

      I like it even better in the movie, Bill Nighy embodies this sentence perfectly.