Against foreign powers, a prince can defend himself with good weapons and good friends; if he has good weapons, he will never lack for good friends.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli
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Category Archives: 1947 – Quote, Unquote
Quote, Unquote
I have to stay alone in order to fully contemplate and feel nature.
~ Caspar David Friedrich
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You can hope for lucky encounters only if you walk around a lot.
~ A. J. Liebling
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When meaning is drawn from killing, the risk is that more killing would bring more meaning.
~ Timothy Snyder
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Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants. Because, there being in the one disdain and in the other suspicion, it is not possible for them to work well together.
~ Niccolò Machiavelli
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Quote, Unquote
Elon has been a major figure for the past decade, and it’s likely that he’ll be important for still another. I feel like we have to grapple with him as a world-historical figure, but rather than reading Hegel to understand him, I reach for Philip K. Dick. He knows a thing or two about derangement.
~ Dan Wang via his 2023 letter
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I’m surprised at how Elon Musk has become so central to the culture. Elon is one half a manufacturing visionary, able to do things with rockets, automobiles, and satellites that no one previously imagined; his other half is a pure gremlin on the public consciousness, who uses his Internet following to drive the rest of society towards madness.
~ Dan Wang via his 2023 letter
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Quote, Unquote
You can find pretty good food in America at fairly high prices, but you will never be able to find revelation for the cost of a few dollars — which is the default in Asia. Americans who have never been to Asia will never appreciate how one never needs to cook, because right outside will be a mom-and-pop shop that is preparing a meal that is one order of magnitude tastier and cheaper than one could make at home.
~ Dan Wang via his 2023 letter
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Celebrity culture has taken a great deal from our country and our world, but the upside — at least in theory — is that it allows people to dream big.
~ Ramin Setoodeh via The New York Times
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A lot of things I do in life, I do as an experiment. I mean, I do it out of human interest — just to see who’s loyal, who’s not loyal.
~ Donald Trump via The New York Times
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