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.
I love this. As a software engineer, I see people run into this issue all the time. I’ve often heard it as, “Done is better than perfect.”
Just FYI, that quote from your girlfriend is not original. Good one though. I believe originally it’s, “Better a bitter truth than a sweet lie,” but I’m not sure who said it first.
Here are a few off the top of my head (though I looked up the original kanji for some of the Japanese ones)…
To enjoy life’s immensity, you do not need many things.
Ain’t no shame in holding onto grief, as long as you make room for other things too.
Honor is dead, but I’ll see what I can do.
Beware the difference between intelligibility and correctness.
Success consists of moving from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
猿も木から落ちる (Saru mo ki kara ochiru)
Even monkeys fall from trees.
正勝吾勝 (Makatsu agatsu)
True victory is victory over one’s self.
I mean, I didn’t take notes or anything, but given how much I played, looking back I think it was some sort of coping mechanism. Moving can be tough on kids.
Wow, I totally forgot about this one. I used to play it all the time when I was a kid. I think I bonded with it because my family moved to California around that time and I had trouble fitting in (a-la Daniel-san), so I think partially it was my way of simulating being a native as silly as that sounds. Anyway, I had the NES version, but your write-up is making me want to try a Sega ROM of it. Thanks for the nostalgia blast!
For films, Under The Skin (2013 indie film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johanson in a pretty low-key role for the most part) is fantastic. More on the horror end, but has strong scifi elements. Amazingly crafted film, nothing really gory at all, the horror is all psychological, but it has such disturbing moments that stick in your head (unwanted) for years. I’ve watched it 3 times though, so that may be part of the problem.