Author: LINUS FERNANDES
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Howard Marks: Penalizing the last to join
“Most trends—both bullish and bearish—eventually become overdone, profiting those who recognize them early but penalizing the last to join. That’s the reasoning behind my number one investment adage: ‘What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end.’ The ability to resist excesses is rare, but it’s an important attribute of…
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Benjamin Disraeli: Magic of first love
“The magic of our first love is our ignorance that it can ever end.” —Benjamin Disraeli.
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Steven Pinker: Unrelentingly offensive
“[Film and theater critic John] Simon has simply discovered the trick used with great effectiveness by certain comedians, talk show hosts and punk rock musicians: people of modest talent can attract attention, at least for a while, by being unrelentingly offensive.” —Steven Pinker.
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Luc de Clapiers: Perfection of a clock
“The perfection of a clock is not to go fast, but to be accurate.” —Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues.
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Otto von Bismarck: In principle
“When you say that you agree to a thing in principle, you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.” —Otto Von Bismarck.
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Scott James Remnant: “Stable” to “wobbly”
“I’m personally quite happy with one stable release every two years, and am of the opinion that trying to release more will mean we’ll have to rename the distro from “stable” to “wobbly”.’ —Scott James Remnant.
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Ken Kesey: Laugh
“You have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy.” —Ken Kesey.
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Margaret Thatcher: Walking over the Thames
“If my critics saw me walking over the Thames, they would say it was because I couldn’t swim.” — Margaret Thatcher.
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Robert Firth: Lacking zero
“One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs.” —Robert Firth.
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R Buckminster Fuller: Give them a tool
“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”―R. Buckminster Fuller.
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Agatha Christie: Curious thought
“It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.” —Agatha Christie.
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P D James: Not by the self-regarding
“The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves.” —-P.D. James.
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Georg Lichtenberg: Advantage
“He who is in love with himself has at least this advantage — he won’t encounter many rivals.” —Georg Lichtenberg, Aphorisms.
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Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach: Spurned pity
“Spurned pity can turn into cruelty just as spurned love turns into hate.” —Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach.
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H L Mencken: Zoos
“All zoos actually offer the public, in return for the taxes spent upon them, is a form of idle witless amusement, compared to which a visit to the state penitentiary, or even a state legislature in session, is informing, stimulating, and ennobling.” —H.L. Mencken.
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Howard Marks: Active management
“Active management has to be seen as the search for mistakes.” —Howard Marks.
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David Swansen: Fundamental purpose of rebalancing
“The fundamental purpose of rebalancing lies in controlling risk, not enhancing return.” —David Swensen.
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Brendan O’Brien: Internet of Things
“If you think that the internet has changed your life, think again. The Internet of Things is about to change it all over again!” —Brendan O’Brien.
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Lao Tzu: Direction
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” —Lao Tzu.
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Peter Kaufman: Same results
“If you do what everyone else is doing, you shouldn’t be surprised to get the same results everyone else is getting.” —Peter Kaufman.
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Cyril Connolly: Card indexes
“Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control.” —Cyril Connolly.
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L Docquier: Animals not as stupid
“The animals are not as stupid as one thinks — they have neither doctors nor lawyers.” —L. Docquier.
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Gloria Steinem: Men we wanted to marry
“Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry.” —Gloria Steinem.
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Claude Pepper: Next generation
“If more politicians in this country were thinking about the next generation instead of the next election, it might be better for the United States and the world.” —Claude Pepper.
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Francois Poulain: Great rewards
“We offer great rewards to a man who can tame a tiger, admire those who can train horses, monkeys, and elephants, and praise to the skies the author of some modest work. Yet we neglect women who have spent years and years nourishing and educating children.” —Francois Poulain.
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Richard Feynman: Problem solving
“[Problem solving] has to do with curiosity. It has to do with people wondering, ‘What makes something do something?’ And then to discover, when you try to get answers, that they’re related to each other. The things that make the wind make the waves, and the motion of the water is like the motion of…
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Robert M Pirsig: In doubt
“When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.” —Robert M. Pirsig.
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Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: Untamed brute
“If he does not fight, it is not because he rejects all fighting as futile, but because he has finished his fights. He has overcome all dissensions between himself and the world and is now at rest… We shall have wars and soldiers so long as the brute in us is untamed.” —Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
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Mary Renault: Into our very soul
“In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul.” —Mary Renault.
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Rebecca Skloot: Immortality
“But I tell you one thing: I don’t want to be immortal if it mean living forever, cause then everybody else just die and get old in front of you while you stay the same, and that’s just sad.” —Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
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Stephen Colbert: Cynicism
“Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the furthest thing from it.”— Stephen Colbert.
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Sarah Kendzior: Bad character
“When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live.” —Sarah Kendzior.
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Ellen Ullman: Relationship with error
“To be a programmer is to develop a carefully managed relationship with error. There’s no getting around it. You either make your accommodations with failure, or the work will become intolerable.” —Ellen Ullman.
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Charles Reznikoff: Fingers of your thoughts
“The fingers of your thoughts are molding your face ceaselessly.” —Charles Reznikoff.
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George Abbott: Three act structure
“In the first act, your hero gets stuck in a tree. In the second act, you throw stones at him. In the third act, you get him out of the tree.” —George Abbott.
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Honore de Balzac: Deep abyss
“The heart of a mother is a deep abyss, at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.” —Honore de Balzac.
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John Irving: Constructing a story
“There is no (literary) language in a screenplay. (For me, dialogue doesn’t count as language.) What passes for language in a screenplay is rudimentary, like the directions for assembling a complicated children’s toy. The only aesthetic is to be clear… A screenplay, as a piece of writing, is merely the scaffolding for a building someone…
