Quotes

The man who insists on high and serious pleasures is depriving himself of pleasure; he continually restricts what he can enjoy; in the constant exercise of his good taste he will eventually price himself out of the market, so to speak.

Susan Sontag, “Notes on ‘Camp’” (1964), note 54

He said one evening: “That’s the bear trap, the greatest vice. Your job. You can justify just about any behavior with it. Maybe that’s why you do it, so you don’t have to deal with all those other problems.”

Tracy Kidder, “The Soul of a New Machine” (1981)

The only controls available to those on board were two push-buttons on the centre post of the cabin—one labelled on and one labelled off. The on button simply started a flight from Mars. The off button was connected to nothing. It was installed at the insistence of Martian mental-health experts, who said that human beings were always happier with machinery they thought they could turn off.

Kurt Vonnegut, “The Sirens of Titan” (1959), p. 119

They say: Don’t always consider all your options. Don’t necessarily go for the outcome that seems best every time. Make a mess on occasion. Travel light. Let things wait. Trust your instincts and don’t think too long. Relax. Toss a coin. Forgive, but don’t forget. To thine own self be true.

Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, “Algorithms to Live By” (2016), p. 6

And Von Neumann gave me an interesting idea: that you don’t have to be responsible for the world that you’re in.

Richard Phillips Feynman and Ralph Leighton, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” (1985), p. 125

I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet” (1887)

No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit—destructive to the logical faculty. What seems strange to you is only so because you do not follow my train of thought or observe the small facts upon which large inferences may depend.

Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Sign of the Four” (1890)