2099 Quotations Found

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

Author: Buckminister Fuller | Subjects: Change, Concepts

In the presence of externalities, society’s interest in a market outcome extends beyond the well-being of buyers and sellers who participate in the market; it also includes the well-being of bystanders who are affected indirectly…. The market equilibrium is not efficient when there are externalities. That is, the equilibrium fails to maximize the total benefit to society as a whole.

Author: Gregory Mankiw | Source: Farnam Street | Subject: Economics | Economy

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.

Author: William Shakespeare | Subjects: Concepts, Fear, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior, Wisdom

The standard process of organizing knowledge by departments, and subdepartments, and further breaking it up into separate courses, tends to conceal the homogeneity of knowledge, and at the same time to omit much which falls between the courses.

Author: Richard Hamming | Subjects: Concepts, Education | Scholarship, Intelligence | Knowledge

Populists don’t just feed on socioeconomic discontent. They feed on ineffective government — and their great appeal is that they claim to replace it with a government that is effective through their own autocratic power.

Authors: Terry Moe, William Howell | Source: Vox | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

The party in power will get electoral credit for bills passed with big, bipartisan majorities. But by the same token, the party in power will get the blame if Congress is paralyzed, if bills die amid partisan bickering, if the problems of the nation go unsolved. Compromise isn’t a gift the majority offers to the minority. It’s a boon the minority offers to the majority. … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ezra Klein, Frances Lee | Source: Vox | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

The United States is alone among advanced democracies in how difficult it is to get anything done. Legislation can be blocked by the House, the Senate, or the president, all of whom face different electorates, on different cycles. It can be overturned by the Supreme Court, where nine robed judges are protected by lifetime appointment. Constitutional amendments are uniquely difficult, and can be blocked by … [ Read more ]

Author: Ezra Klein | Source: Vox | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.

Author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Subjects: Action | Accomplishment, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior, Thought | Inquiry

The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency; not in our doing too much, but rather in our doing too little; not in our living above our ability, but rather in our living below our capacities.

Author: Benjamin E. Mays | Subject: Personal Improvement

We both know what memories can bring, they bring diamonds and rust.

Author: Joan Baez | Subject: Memory

Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to … [ Read more ]

Author: David Foster Wallace | Subjects: Concepts, Education | Scholarship, Intelligence | Knowledge, Personal Improvement, Thought | Inquiry

The story we tell about ourselves defines not just us but our possibilities.

Author: Benjamin Barber | Subject: Personal Improvement

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

Author: Dwight D. Eisenhower | Subjects: Change, Concepts, History, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Author: Dwight D. Eisenhower | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.

Author: Kahlil Gibran | Subjects: Concepts, Education | Scholarship, Wisdom

You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.

Author: Harlan Ellison | Subjects: Communication, Concepts, Intelligence | Knowledge, Life & Society, Personal Improvement

Our concept of politics, descended from antiquity, is that society can peaceably settle its differences of opinion and interests. For politics to properly play its becalming role, citizens must agree on rules. Discussion, persuasion, and a willingness to accept temporary defeat are the political means by which a society adjudicates its inevitable conflicts. When a society discards politics, violence assumes its place.

Author: Franklin Foer | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

At one point in time, conservatism was this idea of liberty, of rugged individualism. But at the same time, there was this deep sense about responsibility. It was both liberty and responsibility. You could swing your arm, but you certainly weren’t going to swing your arm to where it was going to connect with somebody else’s nose. What we’ve gotten to today is: I’m going … [ Read more ]

Author: Chad Mayes | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

Forgiveness, of others and one’s self, can be a powerful, life-altering process. It can change the trajectory of a relationship or even one’s life. It is not the only response one can make to being hurt or hurting others, but it is an effective way to manage the inevitable moments of conflict, disappointment, and pain in our lives. Forgiveness embraces both the reality of the … [ Read more ]

Author: Nathaniel Wade | Source: AEON | Subjects: Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships

Trying to change the world without wanting to change our world is a classic sign of mid-life and a common defense when our worldviews collapse. Only offering to lend one’s hand and means can be a way to assure that one will remain valuable and central even in a new world. (It’s also a way to pursue the most ultra-capitalist of aspirations—a revolution without revolutionaries).
… [ Read more ]

Author: Gianpiero Petriglieri | Source: Harvard Business Review (HBR) | Subjects: Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior