-
James Huneker: Life is like an onion
“Life is like an onion: you peel off layer after layer and then you find there is nothing in it.” —James Huneker.
-
Henri Matisse: Prisoner of etc
“An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.” —Henri Matisse.
-
Kenneth A Gould: Goal of advertising
“The goal of advertising is to rip a hole in your heart so it can then fill that hole with plastic, or with any other materials that can be yanked out of the earth and, after brief sojourns as objects of desire, be converted to waste.” —Kenneth A Gould.
-
L P Hartley: Foreign country
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” —L.P. Hartley.
-
Martin Gardner: Evolution
“Evolution is as much a fact as the earth turning on its axis and going around the sun. At one time this was called the Copernican theory; but, when evidence for a theory becomes so overwhelming that no informed person can doubt it, it is customary for scientists to call it a fact. That all present life descended from earlier forms, over…
-
Jimmy Carter: Globalization
“Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing… you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn’t affect two-thirds of the people of the world.” —Jimmy Carter.
-
Philippe Schnoebelen: Algebraic symbols
“Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about.” —Philippe Schnoebelen.
-
Robertson Davies: Canadian novel
“In the plot, people came to the land; the land loved them; they worked and struggled and had lots of children. There was a Frenchman who talked funny and a greenhorn from England who was a fancy-pants but when it came to the crunch he was all courage. Those novels would make you retch.” —Canadian novelist Robertson Davies, on…
-
Louis Pasteur: You suffer, that is enough for me
“One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your country and what is your religion? One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me.” —Louis Pasteur.
-
Michel Gauthier: Inheritance
“Inheritance is surely a good answer, but who knows the questions?” —Michel Gauthier.
-
Dr. Manmohan Singh: Contradictions
“Life is never free of contradictions.” — Dr. Manmohan Singh.
-
Steve Allen: Prayers
“If you pray for rain long enough, it eventually does fall. If you pray for floodwaters to abate, they eventually do. The same happens in the absence of prayers.” —Steve Allen.
-
Shane Parrish: Read old books
“If you want new ideas, read old books.” —Shane Parrish.
-
Rod Sterling: Tools of conquest
“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs, and explosions, and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy; and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of…
-
Donald Knuth: Premature optimization
“Premature optimization is the root ofall evil.” —Donald Knuth.
-
John Morley: Laws of heat
“Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat.” —John Morley.
-
Nelson Elhage: Fast tools
“Fast tools don’t just allow users to accomplish tasks faster; they allowusers to accomplish entirely new types of tasks, in entirely new ways.” —Nelson Elhage.
-
Juan Ramon Jimenez: Write the other way
“If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.” —Juan Ramon Jimenez.
-
Marc Andreessen: Massively inefficient
“Software today is massively inefficient; it’s become prime time againfor software programmers to get really good at optimization.” —Marc Andreessen.
-
Tobi Lutke: Killer feature
“Not all fast software is world-class, but all world-class software is fast.Performance is the killer feature.” —Tobi Lutke.
-
Seneca: Disoriented and disturbed lives
“The greatest portion of peace of mind is doing nothing wrong. Those who lack self-control live disoriented and disturbed lives.” —Seneca.
-
Zeno: Man conquers the world
“Man conquers the world by conquering himself.” —Zeno.
-
Phil Ochs: True protest is beauty
“You must protest / It is your diamond duty / Ah but in such an ugly time / The true protest is beauty.” —Phil Ochs.
-
Benjamin Graham: Unusual qualities of character
“The genuine investor in common stocks does not need a great equipment of brains and knowledge, but he does need some unusual qualities of character.” —Benjamin Graham.
-
Paul Klee: Art, a holiday
“Art should be like a holiday: something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently and to change his point of view.” —Paul Klee.
-
Warren Buffett: Realism and discipline
“The most important thing in investments is not having a high IQ, thank God. I mean, the important thing is realism and discipline. And you don’t need to be extraordinarily bright to do well in investments, if you are realistic and disciplined.” —Warren Buffett.
-
Chelsea Manning: Patriotism
“Patriotism is often the cry extolled when morally questionable acts are advocated by those in power.” —Chelsea Manning.
-
J Paul Getty: Always a battle
“Crises, setbacks, obstacles—these will certainly be met by any executive in the course of his career. The measure of a person in such circumstances is not only how they cope with adversity, but also how they turns it to their advantage. Business is always a battle—for sales, improvements, efficiency —and an executive must lead very…
-
Zakir Hussain: Education and politics
“Education is the master and politics is its servant. It is necessary to combine power with morality as well as with science and technology.” —Zakir Hussain.
-
George Santayana: Historical accident
“What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak.” —George Santayana.
-
Charles F Kettering: Theorizing
“Theorizing is not nearly as effective as trying.” —Charles F Kettering.
-
Joseph Heller: Destiny
“Destiny is a good thing to accept when it’s going your way. When it isn’t, don’t call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.” —Joseph Heller, God Knows.
-
Jean-Paul Sartre: Freedom
“Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.” —Jean-Paul Sartre.
-
George Polya: Pedantry and mastery
“Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry … To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of…
-
William Lloyd Garrison: All mankind
“Our country is the world — our countrymen are all mankind.” —William Lloyd Garrison.
-
Alexandr Wang: Extraordinary results
“I have never seen ordinary effort lead to extraordinary results.” —Alexandr Wang.
-
Warren Buffett: Key to investing
“We think you should study things like Mrs. B out at the Nebraska Furniture Mart, who takes $500 and turns it, over time, into the largest home furnishing store in the world. There has to be some lessons in things like that. What gives you that kind of a result and that kind of competitive…
-
Emily Dickinson: Emergency
‘”Faith” is a fine invention / For gentlemen who see — / But microscopes are prudent / In an emergency. “ —Emily Dickinson.
-
Norman Cousins: Early warning system
“History is a vast early warning system.” —Norman Cousins.
-
Marlene Dietrich: Intelligent men
“I’ve spent almost all of my life with highly intelligent men. They’re not like other men. Their spirit is great and stimulating. They hate strife; indeed they reject it. Their inventive gifts are boundless. They demand devotion and obedience. And a sense of humor. I happily gave all of this. I was lucky to be…
-
David Chapman: Learn from different fields
“Learn from fields very different from your own. They each have ways of thinking that can be useful at surprising times. Just learning to think like an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a philosopher will beneficially stretch your mind.” —David Chapman.
-
Charlie Munger: Tiring decisions
“We didn’t know, when we started out, this modern psychological evidence to the effect that you shouldn’t make a lot of important decisions when you’re tired and that making a lot of difficult decisions is tiring…. I cannot remember an important decision that Warren [Buffett] has made when he was tired.” —Charlie Munger.
-
Turkish proverb: Wooden axe, woody trees
“The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.” —Turkish proverb.
-
Dr. B R Ambedkar: Ethics and economics
“History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.” —Dr. B R Ambedkar.
-
Margaret Anderson: Real and romantic love
“In real love you want the other person’s good. In romantic love you want the other person.” —Margaret Anderson.
-
Christina Rossetti: Work never begun
“Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun.” —Christina Rossetti.
-
Howard Warren Buffett: Living ecosystem
“Soil is a living ecosystem, and is a farmer’s most precious asset. A farmer’s productive capacity is directly related to the health of his or her soil.” —Howard Warren Buffett.
-
Vint Cerf: Writing software
“Writing software is a very intense, very personal thing. You have to have time to work your way through it, to understand it. Then debug it.” —Vint Cerf.
-
Samuel Butler: Appealing to logic
“No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which are beyond her jurisdiction.” —Samuel Butler.
