It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
~ Charles Dickens
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In a zero-sum world, one with no or very little growth, democracy can become antagonistic as people seek to vote money away from each other. What follows from that antagonism is distrust and polarization. In a high-growth world the dogfights can be far fewer, because it’s much easier for everyone to win.
~ Sam Altman
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How can you face the world if all you can say about yourself is that you’re hungry. If you can’t think of anything else.
~ Herta Müller
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Evil knows of the Good, but Good does not know of Evil. Knowledge of oneself is something only Evil has.
~ Franz Kafka
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How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense.
~ Franz Kafka
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Football combines the two worst things about America: it is violence punctuated by committee meetings.
~ George Will
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The bottom line is that the abrupt rise in digital interaction following the arrival of the pandemic made knowledge work more tedious and exhausting, helping to fuel the waves of disruption that have followed. If we accept this interpretation of events, however, we must also accept the necessity of continuing to seek change. So long as these new and excessive levels of digital communication persist, more haphazard upheavals will inevitably follow.
~ Cal Newport via The New Yorker
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Ingratitude is more common than you might think.
~ Cormac McCarthy
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First delight, then instruct.
~ Karl Friedrich Schinkel
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As the cult of intersectionality implodes before our eyes, it is time for higher education to commit itself to earnestly engaging new ideas and respectfully participating in big debates on a whole host of issues. Universities must reject victimology, celebrate individual agency, and engage the truth with epistemological modesty. Institutions ought to embrace open inquiry. Education done rightly should be defined by big-hearted debates about important issues.
~ Ben Sasse via The Atlantic
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