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Spf85 t1_j4hy1uk wrote

Is this a Tolkien quote? Seems like a Tolkien quote

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pf30146788e t1_j4i45s6 wrote

It is. It’s from The Fellowship of the Ring.

> I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

It’s a depressing, albeit realistic, quote tbh. Frodo is about to embark on his journey with the ring, and he knows it is going to be hard. He doesn’t want to go, but he has to or the world ends. It has nothing to do with making your own decisions. It’s about accepting that you’re going to have live through some bad shit whether you like it or not, because sometimes life’s a bitch and then you die. In other words, it’s meaning is the opposite of OP’s title. Sometimes you don’t get to decide, and you just have to make do with, or make the most of, the time or life you’ve been given.

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Padhome t1_j4ioheo wrote

I've always found it more motivating than that, I think the interpretation that it's depressing is ignoring the intent of the quote. Life has trials a tribulations, but we brave them and move forward as best we can. I think this quote from Sam is a good way to contextualize it —

>"I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

>"What are we holding onto Sam?"

>"That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for."

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day7seven t1_j4k25kc wrote

Damn. I should stop wasting time on Reddit.

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CocoMicha t1_j4isjuv wrote

I think about this concept all the time.

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dover_oxide t1_j4i703i wrote

You lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime. No more. No less.

-Death from the Sandman Series

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cfrizzadydiz t1_j4kc2xd wrote

This is a jipp! How can I decide how to budget my time if I don't know how much I've got! Not a recipe for sound planning I say

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Great_Whereas_9187 t1_j4jnsd9 wrote

Isn't that what life's about? It's a series of decisions we make that sets the path before us.

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pritampaulsingh t1_j4ivrw2 wrote

No matter what you do, you will vanish and be forgotten. This motivation shit is meaningless as well

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Ambitious_Shallot255 t1_j4mb9yk wrote

So being remembered is more important to you than having a fulfilled life? You need others to recognize your accomplishments, or else it's not worth doing?

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EyelBeeback t1_j4k7rbo wrote

True that in time all things are forgotten. Yet, this life is your to "experience". If you do not do what you feel regardless of what other people think, you are living someone elses wish for you.

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