Quotes from Marc MacYoung

Words have no power when someone isn't listening to you anymore

Without stupid, there is no plot.

The willingness to use force usually means you won't have to. It is a paradox because our modern culture conditions us to believe violence attracts violence, and violence never solves anything.

You can't pull a gun just because a crazy person wants to talk to you. If I did that I'd never get through a family Christmas.

Between stimulus and response there is a gap. It's a moment of choice about our actions and reactions. Most people blow past this, react out of habit and then claim they were helpless against themselves. Mind the gap.

A lot of people don't have opinions...they have weaponized ideals.

New points of view are not, as a rule, discovered in territory that is already known, but in out-of-the way places that may even be avoided because of their bad name. Carl Jung, Synchronicity: An Acausual Connecting Principle

Years ago, a drug addict said something very profound to me. He said I didn't understand about addiction. His life was only about one thing: getting drugs. It simplified his life in that all the other things people have to think about, worry about, and deal with—he didn't. His life wasn't easy, but it was simple, cut down to what he could cope with. You will find this same attitude in people who try to reduce life to only one thing. This includes being obsessed about danger.

I am constantly approached by people who are willing to go to any extreme for personal safety...except practicing basic emotional control.

cover and concealment.

Or it can be as subtle as to stop what you are doing and– without fear– turn your full attention to someone approaching and say, "That's close enough. What can I do for you?" Another is while maintaining the boundary pretend you don't know the answer to the question or have what he asks for.[26] This derails the typical robbery script.

The younger religions are usually the most violent, which means less tolerant of those who don't quack exactly as they do.

In short, social convention and beliefs are nothing but air.

I'm cool, you're cool, it's cool

Once is interesting. Twice is happenstance. Three times, it's a game. Patterns are things that happen that you really couldn't prove in court, but damn it, you know they happen!

Anytime you are tempted to resort to violence, this is the bottom line: if you ain't ready to die for it or kill for it, don't do it.

An example of this is if he tells you "get in the car." You never go to a secondary location– ever.

People are incredibly violent and inflict tremendous pain without even thinking about it. what's really scary is that, to them, violence has no meaning. They aren't being cruel; they are being machines.

four bases of violence: fear, frenzy, tantrum, and criminal.

What truly differentiates the heavies from the lightweights is not how tough they are, but how aware they are.

The woman's goal seemed to be, "Don't teach the kid to challenge our assumptions (especially, if they're wrong or contradictory); instead, teach the child to roll over and be submissive.

If you try violence, I will defend." Perhaps defend isn't the best term; retaliate is better.

It's easy to forget, there is a difference between self-defense and training for self-defense. What we are about to say applies to self-defense– not training.

The Duelists.