There are really good and thoroughly bad people on each side in all wars.
—Tonbo
Thus the freer the judgement of a man is in regard to a definite issue, with so much greater necessity will the substance of this judgement be determined.
—Friedrich Engels (1820–95) German Socialist Political Philosopher
Giving a person a high IQ is kind of like giving a person a million dollars. A few individuals will do something interesting with it, but most will piss it away on trinkets and pointless exercises.
—J. Andrew Rogers (b.1970) American Technologist
If you do not wish a thing heard, do not say it.
—John M. Ford (1957–2006) American Novelist, Writer, Poet
You are only as strong as your weakest delusion.
—Unknown
Destiny always has been something that you tear open with your own hands.
—Unknown
If we are not empty, we become a block of matter.
We cannot breathe, we cannot think.
To be empty means to be alive, to breathe in and to breathe out.
We cannot be alive if we are not empty.
Emptiness is impermanence, it is change.
We should not complain about impermanence,
because without impermanence, nothing is possible.
—Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) Vietnamese Buddhist Leader, Teacher, Peace Activist
Make changes based on your strongest opportunities, not your most convenient ones.
—Unknown
Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
Determined efforts are better than a miracle.
—Tonbo
Mystical explanations are considered deep. The truth is that they are not even superficial.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Fight for those you have lost, and for those you don’t want to lose.
—Unknown
Money makes the world go round. Love just barely keeps it from blowing up.
—Unknown
We don’t have thoughts, we are thoughts. Thoughts are not responsible for the machinery that happens to think them.
—Unknown
I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: ‘The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.’ In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
My father said whoever tells the longest story is always the liar. The truth isn’t that complicated.
—Bill Joy (b.1954) American Computer Engineer, Investor
You are not ready to count your enemy’s losses until you have learned to count your own. And remember that some enemies will never have learned to count.
—John M. Ford (1957–2006) American Novelist, Writer, Poet
You know you’ve achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
I’ve found that people who are great at something are not so much convinced of their own greatness as mystified at why everyone else seems so incompetent.
—Paul Graham (b.1964) English Programmer, Investor
Adultery always begins with the adulterer(s) claiming to themselves and to others that the relationship is “harmless” because it hasn’t crossed a certain line. The line where it becomes wrong is the line where you start having to rationalize like that.
—Unknown
Some people know better, and they still make the mistake. That’s when ignorance becomes stupidity.
—Unknown
Faith is Hope given too much credit.
—Unknown
Fear and lies fester in darkness. The truth may wound, but it cuts clean.
—Jacqueline Carey (b.1964) Canadian Writer, Novelist
Our brains live in a dark, quiet, wet place. That is the reality. It is only by means of our senses that we get the illusion of being out there in the world. In a way, our bodies are a form of telepresence, operated by our brains, huddling safe in their little caves of bone.
—Eliezer Yudkowsky (b.1979) American Scientist
Any person who claims to have deep feeling for other human beings should think a long, long time before he votes to have other men kept behind bars – caged. I am not Saying there shouldn’t be prisons, but there shouldn’t be bars. Behind bars, a man never reforms. He will never forget. He never will get completely over the memory of the bars.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
My experience tells me that in this complicated world the simplest explanation is usually dead wrong. But I’ve noticed that the simplest explanation usually sounds right and is far more convincing than any complicated explanation could hope to be.
—Scott Adams (b.1957) American Cartoonist
Would it be good advice, once copying becomes practical, to make lots of copies when good things happen, and none (or perhaps even killing off your own personal instance) on bad things? Will this change the subjective probability of good events?
—Eliezer Yudkowsky (b.1979) American Scientist
Philosophy is the art of asking the wrong questions.
—Unknown
If you’re capable of understanding the world, you have a moral obligation to become rational.
—Charlie Munger (1924–2023) American Investor, Philanthropist
Lying to yourself about specific actions is easier than re-defining the bounds of your imagined identity… When I see once-ethical men devolve into moral grey, they still identify as upstanding.
—Ben Casnocha (b.1988) American Entrepreneur
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