Where is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. John Milton
Discovery consists in seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. Albert Szent-Gyurgyi
Conspiracy is paradigmatic thinking. Me. That should be a note, but I have a pile to get through.
Costs are foregone opportunities. Me again, on the costs of taxes and meeting regulation.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. Thomas Jefferson.
The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that, while all politicians lie, Republicans have an alternative. Me.
It seems to me we lack identities until we choose them, as what we are willing to limit our freedom of movement for. Given this, the development of psychological health is a function of consciously choosing one thing and not another, and not regretting the choice. Me.
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. Thomas Paine.
Finding the right work is like discovering your own soul in the world. Thomas Moore.
For man’s greatest actions are performed in minor struggles. Life, misfortune, isolation, abandonment, and poverty are battlefields which have their heroes–obscure heroes who are at times greater than illustrious heroes. Victor Hugo
A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. Goethe.
Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct from ability, which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended. Whitehead.
90% of all those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit. Paul Meyer.
The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. Disraeli.
Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world. Jane Addams.
[note to self: can Arabic distinguish linguistically between law and principle?]
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. Helen Keller.
That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer. Jacob Bronowski.
The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them. G.K. Chesterton.
Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit. Henry Brooke Adams
Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. Daniel Boorstin.
Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. John Dalberg.
Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength, not my weakness. Amos Bronson Alcott
To live life well is to express is poorly; if one expresses life too well, one is living it no longer. Gaston Bachelard. (I cannot resist speculating that he was a bit rotund)
The inevitability of gradualness cannot fail to be appreciated. Sidney Webb (founding member of the Fabian Society).