2097 Quotations Found

Democracy is premised on the belief that we can trust ordinary people to make consequential decisions. It’s in some ways an enlightenment ideal premised on another enlightenment ideal: the triumph of reason and the capacities of ordinary people. To buy into it, you have to believe that people will be more loyal to principles and discernment than to leaders and groups, and in that sense, … [ Read more ]

Author: Rebecca Solnit | Source: The New York Times | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

In red world, being called a racist — that accusation has no purchase, really. Here’s what’s the terrifying thing on the right that can be a career- and reputation-ending allegation: “You’re weak. You’re a coward.” So the transformation, this flipping upside down of morality, turning bullying into strength, turning restraint into vice, all of that, what has then happened is it enables the Trumpists and … [ Read more ]

Author: David French | Source: Vox | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Author: Unknown | Subjects: Concepts, Ethics | Integrity | Morality, Life & Society, Personal Improvement

Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.

Author: Haruki Murakami | Subjects: Communication, Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Relationships, Thought | Inquiry

In fact, one of the recurrent themes in all [Joan] Didion’s books, both fiction and nonfiction, is Americans’ penchant for reinventing themselves, their belief in fresh starts and second acts — a faith, on the one hand, that helped settle this country and fueled the American dream, and yet, on the other, has resulted in rootlessness and anomie, the discarding of personal and public history. … [ Read more ]

Author: Michiko Kakutani | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: America, International, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

Our political process not only spurns consensus but also works by “turning the angers and fears and energy of the few” against “the rest of the country.”

Authors: Joan Didion, Michiko Kakutani | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

The NatCons are wrong to think there is a unified thing called “the left” that hates America. This is just the apocalyptic menace many of them had to invent in order to justify their decision to vote for Donald Trump.

They are wrong, too, to think there is a wokeist Anschluss taking over all the institutions of American life. For people who spend so much time … [ Read more ]

Author: David Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

Conservatives have lately become expert culture warriors—the whole Tucker Carlson schtick. This schtick demands that you ignore the actual suffering of the world—the transgender kid alone in some suburban high school, the anxiety of a guy who can’t afford health care for his brother, the struggle of a Black man trying to be seen and recognized as a full human being. It’s a cynical game … [ Read more ]

Author: David Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.

Author: Joan Didion | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement

Destiny helps people believe there is an order to this horseshit. There isn’t.

Author: The Witcher | Subjects: Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior

There is nothing like a higher purpose to allow men to do the unthinkable.

Author: The Witcher | Subjects: Concepts, Life & Society, Meaning, Psychology | Behavior

A critical quality for success is the ability to change your mind. A lot of ideas are bad until they’re good. And a lot of ideas are good until they’re bad.

Author: Shane Parrish | Source: Farnam Street | Subjects: Personal Improvement, Success / Failure

Uncertainty is the price of beauty, and integrity the only compass for the territory of uncertainty that constitutes the landmass of any given life. And so the best we can do is walk step by next intuitively right step until one day, pausing to catch our breath, we turn around and gasp at a path. If we have been lucky enough, if we have been … [ Read more ]

Author: Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement

Belief in destiny helps render your life a coherent narrative, which infuses your goals with a greater sense of purpose.

Author: Matthew Hutson | Source: The New York Times | Subject: Psychology | Behavior

Superstitious thought, or “magical thinking,” even as it misrepresents reality, has its advantages. It offers psychological benefits that logic and science can’t always provide: namely, a sense of control and a sense of meaning. Consider one “law of magic” that people tend to put stock in: the idea that “luck is in your hands,” that you can affect your fate via superstitious rituals like knocking … [ Read more ]

Author: Matthew Hutson | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior

You don’t need to be an expert to think that experts are right, but you do need to be an expert to think that they are wrong.

Author: Fallacy Man | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Intelligence | Knowledge, Personal Improvement, Thought | Inquiry

You can’t replace reading with other sources of information like videos, because you need to read in order to write well, and you need to write in order to think well.

Author: Paul Graham | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Reading | Writing, Thought | Inquiry

Expectation is the grandfather of disappointment. The world can never own a man who wants nothing.

Author: Wu Hsin | Source: Farnam Street | Subject: Personal Improvement

I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost … [ Read more ]

Author: Carl Sagan | Source: Goodreads | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Math & Science, Politics & Public Policy

In expert tennis, about 80 per cent of the points are won; in amateur tennis, about 80 per cent of the points are lost. In other words, professional tennis is a Winner’s Game – the final outcome is determined by the activities of the winner – and amateur tennis is a Loser’s Game – the final outcome is determined by the activities of the loser. … [ Read more ]

Author: Simon Ramo | Source: Farnam Street | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Personal Improvement, Success / Failure