--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Its hurtful and wonderful how our jokes…" description: "\"“Its hurtful and wonderful how our jokes survive us. Since I left home on this journey, I've thought a lot about this-how a big part of any life is abo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/423/steven-hall-13492_credit-card_its-hurtful-and-wonderful-how-our-jokes_1294040.jpg" --- # Its hurtful and wonderful how our jokes survive us. Since… ![“Its hurtful and wonderful how our jokes survive us. Since I left home on this journey, I've thought a lot about this-how a big part of any life is about the hows and whys of setting up machinery. it's building systems, devices, motors. Winding up the clockwork of direct debits, configuring…” quote by Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/423/steven-hall-13492_credit-card_its-hurtful-and-wonderful-how-our-jokes_1294040.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/423/steven-hall-13492_credit-card_its-hurtful-and-wonderful-how-our-jokes_1294040.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/423/steven-hall-13492_credit-card_its-hurtful-and-wonderful-how-our-jokes_1294040.jpg) > ““Its hurtful and wonderful how our jokes survive us. Since I left home on this journey, I've thought a lot about this-how a big part of any life is about the hows and whys of setting up machinery. it's building systems, devices, motors. Winding up the clockwork of direct debits, configuring newspaper deliveries and anniversaries and photographs and credit card repayments and anecdotes. Starting their engines, setting them in motion and sending them chugging off into the future to do their thing at a regular or irregular intervals. When a person leaves or dies or ends, they leave an afterimage; their outline in the devices they've set up around them. The image fades to the winding down of springs, the slow running out of fuel as the machines of a life lived in certain ways in certain places and from certain angles are shut down or seize up or blink off one by one. It takes time. Sometimes, you come across the dusty lights or electrical hum of someone else's machine, maybe a long time after you ever expected to, still running, lonely in the dark. Still doing its thing for the person who started it up long, long after they've gone. A man lives so many different lengths of time.”” [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life leaves enduring traces through the systems we create, persisting beyond our presence. **In simple terms:** Our creations outlive us. Key Takeaway Build purposeful systems. Themes legacy technology mortality continuity Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical poetic When to use this quote - personal reflection - urban planning - technology design - memorial practices Key Concepts systems thinking impermanence human impact Questions to Reflect On - How do your daily habits reflect your values? - What systems have you inherited? A Different Perspective Systems may become obsolete or harmful without maintenance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Machines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/machines/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Machinery is the subconscious mind of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stanley-lee/machinery-is-the-subconscious-mind-of-the-world/) [Gerald Stanley Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stanley-lee/) > [The evil that machinery is doing is not merely in the consequence of its work but in the fact that it makes men themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-evil-that-machinery-is-doing-is-not-merely-in-the-consequence-of/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“Both for society as well as for the individual there is a gulf between merely living and living worthily. In order that one may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-r-ambedkar-2/both-for-society-as-well-as-for-the-individual-there-is-a-gulf/) [B.R. Ambedkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-r-ambedkar-2/) > [Left to its own devices, the State Department machinery tends toward inertia rather than creativity; it is always on the verge of turning itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-kissinger/left-to-its-own-devices-the-state-department-machinery-tends-toward/) [Henry A. Kissinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-kissinger/) > [“Making a product is just an activity, making a profit on a product is the achievement.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/making-a-product-is-just-an-activity-making-a-profit-on-a-product-is/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [If you don't understand how to run an efficient operation, new machinery will just give you new problems of operation and maintenance. 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I use my credit cards, so I don't need to do that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-creamer/i-ve-never-gotten-cash-out-of-a-machine-i-use-my-credit-cards-so-i/) [Paula Creamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-creamer/) > [But Margaret went less abroad, among machinery and men; saw less of power in its public effect, and, as it happened, she was thrown…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gaskell/but-margaret-went-less-abroad-among-machinery-and-men-saw-less-of/) [Elizabeth Gaskell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gaskell/) > [What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-the-church-needs-to-day-is-not-more-machinery-or-better-not-new/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It required unusual inquisitiveness to pursue the development of scientific curiosities such as charged pith balls, the voltaic cell, and the electrostatic machine. Without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-seitz/it-required-unusual-inquisitiveness-to-pursue-the-development-of/) [Frederick Seitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-seitz/) > [But tending machinery was one thing; defining what we were trying to do and why we were doing it, and developing ways to measure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-richardson/but-tending-machinery-was-one-thing-defining-what-we-were-trying-to/) [Elliot Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-richardson/) > [Culture looks beyond machinery, culture hates hatred; culture has one great passion, the passion for sweetness and light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/culture-looks-beyond-machinery-culture-hates-hatred-culture-has-one/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [I admit that these terms and the diagrams connected with them repel some readers, and fill others with the vain imagination that they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-marshall/i-admit-that-these-terms-and-the-diagrams-connected-with-them-repel/) [Alfred Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-marshall/) > [I admire machinery as much is any man, and am as thankful to it as any man can be for what it does for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-admire-machinery-as-much-is-any-man-and-am-as-thankful-to-it-as-any/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) ## More by Steven Hall > [Texas has no system in place, and what you have is chaos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/texas-has-no-system-in-place-and-what-you-have-is-chaos/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) > [Longhand isn't well suited to my way of writing. I tend to end up with dozens of pages of crossings-out and margin scribbles just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/longhand-isn-t-well-suited-to-my-way-of-writing-i-tend-to-end-up-with/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) > [I'd love a signed first edition of 'City of Glass' by Paul Auster. My favourite book of all time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/i-d-love-a-signed-first-edition-of-city-of-glass-by-paul-auster-my/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) > [“A movement unlocked my attention. I re-focused my eyes, looking past the vodka glass and into the static buzz of the TV. I stayed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/a-movement-unlocked-my-attention-i-re-focused-my-eyes-looking-past/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) > [“But I’m old now and Ward has made himself rich and powerful. 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'Somebody's superglued my joints.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/ouch-she-mumbles-somebody-s-superglued-my-joints/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) > [“Just tell me i'm not dreaming?" maybe you are," she said. "Probably you are." I don't want to be. Clio, i can't do this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/just-tell-me-i-m-not-dreaming-maybe-you-are-she-said-probably-you-are/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) > [“It's like they say about soldiers coming back from war. People all around you are dying. Really dying, Eric. You go in for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/it-s-like-they-say-about-soldiers-coming-back-from-war-people-all/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) > [The calmer and more well-ordered my desktop is, the more I can convince myself I'm on top of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/the-calmer-and-more-well-ordered-my-desktop-is-the-more-i-can/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) > [Especially in quail hunting, where the hunter is so focused on the bird that it makes everything else blurry. 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I can't decide.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-hall/are-simon-garfunkel-cool-or-are-they-just-really-uncool-i-can-t-decide/) [Steven Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) [Explore all 50 Steven Hall quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-hall/) ## More Credit card quotes > [“It seems we’ve left skin in each other’s lungs. 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Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-c-moore/) Browse all 591 Credit card quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Its hurtful and wonderful how our jokes survive us. Since I left home on this journey, I've thought a lot about this-how a big part of any life is about the hows and whys of setting up machinery. it's building systems, devices, motors. Winding up the clockwork of direct debits, configuring newspaper deliveries and anniversaries and photographs and credit card repayments and anecdotes. Starting their engines, setting them in motion and sending them chugging off into the future to do their thing at a regular or irregular intervals. When a person leaves or dies or ends, they leave an afterimage; their outline in the devices they've set up around them. 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