quotes

“Of course I considered it, you dolt! I wanted one! But do you have any idea how much a secret tunnel under the harbor would cost? Snakes and dogs! It simply couldn’t be done!” (The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages, 386)

“He made a choice to end his life,” Helena says, trying to keep her emotion in check. “I think we should respect that” “Not while he’s still under my employ” (Recursion by Blake Crouch)

He considers a drink, but decides that drinking alone post-signing-divorce-papers is too pathetic, (Recursion by Blake Crouch)

What do you say to the bravest woman you’ve ever known, whom you lived a half dozen extraordinary lives with, whom you saved the world with, who saved you in every conceivable way, but who has no idea you even exist? (Recursion by Blake Crouch)

But the English have become such a pitiful lot these days, with hardly any idea what to do with themselves now that they no longer have one quarter of the earth’s human population bowing and scraping before them. (A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid)

While everyone knows deep down that p, some philosophers feel curiously compelled to assert that not-p, as a result of being closet Marxists. (https://consc.net/misc/moreproofs.html)

“And what kind of fucking welcome committee is this anyway?” Irrational, directionless anger rose in her like bile. “We’ve come all this way—been dragged all this way—and all that happens is they drill a hole in the sky and then fuck off.” (Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds)

“I have no idea how the box works.” “Well, that makes two of us, so I guess we can look forward to some fun times ahead.” (Dark Matter by Blake Crouch)

All persons, places, and events in this book are real. Certain speeches and thoughts are necessarily constructions by the author. No names have been changed to protect the innocent, since God Almighty protects the innocent as a matter of Heavenly routine. (The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut)

The total attacking force had been thirty-five. “Send us more Martians,” said Ross L. McSwann, the Mayor of Boca Raton. He later became a United States Senator. (The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut)

“You know how these things are supposed to work, right? The good-looking popular guy suddenly shows interest in the mousy girl from the country. Everyone hates her for it, but she starts to gain confidence in herself. Then the guy betrays her and regrets it. It’s awful, but afterward she ‘finds herself,’ realizes she doesn’t need him, and maybe there’s some other stuff that happens”—he waggles his fingers in the air—“and finally she turns into the most beautiful girl ever because she likes herself. But it won’t work at all if you don’t stammer and blush and pretend you don’t like me.” She’s utterly confused by this salad of words. It annoys her so much that she says, “I don’t like you.” (The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin)

Damaya laughs, then stops herself. Then she’s not sure why she did either. (The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin)

When he smiles, it’s like the surface breach of a vesicle, something bright and hot and alarming, especially up close. (The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin)

• innon
  • big pirate guy
  • super loud and popular

“You and the laughing one”—that is the locals’ term for Alabaster, since the ones who don’t speak Sanze-mat have trouble pronouncing his name—“you have babies, give us one, yes? Or we have to go steal, from the mainland.” (The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin)

• meovites

and my cat, KING OZZYMANDIAS. Yeah, even the damn cat. It takes a village to keep a writer from losing her shit, okay? (The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin)

• acknowledgements

“This experience for him wouldn’t be surprising or shocking or even mind-blowing—those words aren’t big enough. He might actually die.” (https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html)

John McCarthy, who coined the term “Artificial Intelligence” in 1956, complained that “as soon as it works, no one calls it AI anymore.” (http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2012/1/144824-artificial-intelligence-past-and-future/fulltext)

“AI has by now succeeded in doing essentially everything that requires ‘thinking’ but has failed to do most of what people and animals do ‘without thinking.'” (https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html)

kid is about to do MiTM entrance exam“Work hard, try your best…

mama needs to meet po-shen” (some MiTM parent)

And sometimes, he’ll need to remind students that it’s OK to break their silence vow—like the one who wouldn’t speak to a nurse despite spiking a 104-degree fever, and the two who were approached by police when McDaniel sent them to an unfamiliar neighborhood to draw what they saw. “Cops thought they were casing the place,” he laughs. “I got a call from the police station saying, ‘They gave me this number and you’ll vouch for them.’ And I was like, Talk to the cops. Students take this very seriously.” (https://thepenngazette.com/welcome-to-despair/)

“One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.” (aristotle or sophocles?)

"You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.” (winston churchill)

“The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.” (Marcus Aurelius)

“be kind, as everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” (socrates)

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes everyday - unless you're too busy; then you should sit for an hour” (“old zen proverb”)

Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion

there are no secrets that time does not reveal

"There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so”

“there are two important days of your life: the first is when you are born and the second is when you find out why”

“Try to recall what you saw on social media the last time you scrolled. You’ll notice you can barely remember any posts, even if you scrolled for hours.” (https://open.substack.com/pub/gurwinder/p/how-social-media-shortens-your-life?r=4jswvc&utm_medium=ios)

“A new language is a new window from which to look at the world.”

“everyone you meet knows something you dont” bill nye

“the true man is revealed in difficult times” epictetus

“the torment of precaution often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. it is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny” - napoleon bonaparte