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 eventully 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”

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”, 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”, 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 et Ralph Leighton “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”, p. 125