4 ms·

Ask HN: What is/are your favorite quote(s)?

15 points by kumarski 11y ago

kumarski 11y ago
Mine is: The history of the world is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.
- Praxilla 11y ago
  That quote is from - Konrad Adenauer Good one!
Praxilla 11y ago
"All parts of the human body get tired eventually - except the tongue." - Konrad Adenauer
chroma 11y ago
"Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect." — Teller I don't know if Teller intended it, but his observation applies to much more than stage magic. The quote is from Esquire's feature of the mononymous magician.[1] IMO, the whole article is worth a read. 1. http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a15810/teller-magician-interview-1012/ http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a15810/telle...
- brador 11y ago
  Definition: A mononymous person is an individual who is known and addressed by a mononym, or "single name". Cool!
- joshschreuder 11y ago
  Great quote and article. I have always admired Teller in particular. He's on a show currently called Fool Us where he and Penn have to work out how performers' tricks work and the respect and wonder on his face after each trick is great to see. I hope I have that kind of ongoing love for my passions after decades pursuing them.
a3n 11y ago
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. Upton Sinclair
JoshTriplett 11y ago
A few of my favorites on various topics: I won't be able to answer all your questions. Rather, I can show you how to be lost productively, and how to become comfortable not knowing things and teaching yourself. -- David Humphrey, Mozilla developer The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!', but 'That's funny ...' -- Isaac Asimov There are better ways to earn a living than to prevent other people from making use of one's contributions to computer science. -- Donald E. Knuth "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." -- George Bernard Shaw I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. -- Woody Allen
- rayalez 11y ago
  Thanks, these are great!
eip 11y ago
Can you imagine that a rocky, watery planet could have a soul, and that such a soul could be released by a spent body? Can you imagine that the youthful soul of the planet Mars might be dwelling elsewhere, re-establishing its essence on more fertile soil? Souls, like seeds, blow on the winds. The chemistry of spirit is not as restricted as flesh and blood. Think of a sci-fi scenario where earth was shortly to be struck by a giant comet. Comprehending a collision course, the people of earth could calculate their extinction, and then make a radio appeal to all Universal stations to accept the souls of earth. Each galactic station could put the case before their government asking, “Do we want those beings here as refugees? Are they worthy to be among us? Shall we send a travel beam to receive them or shall we let them be cast adrift?” Would it be an easy decision, or would the soul seeds of earth be turned away? Who would be taken? Who would not? Would it be a collective agreement? What would be the terms? This metaphor should make you think about who your are in a cosmic sense, and what your relationship to the garden of earth might be.
redmaverick 11y ago
"There are only two tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants and the other is... .. getting it!" ~ Oscar Wilde
- atmosx 11y ago
  Wilde must have the best ratio in 'famous quotes / lines written on paper'.
erbdex 11y ago
“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.” ― Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living
jimsojim 11y ago
"Things lead to their opposites"
akbarnama 11y ago
Times of stress throughout my life have led me to turn, or return, to the physical sciences, a world where there is no life, but also no death --- Oliver Sacks Each one of here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love completely without complete understanding --- A River Runs Through It Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life --- (read somewhere) On education --- "And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about." "Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world"
kleer001 11y ago
"Nature is the great visible engine against which all other creative efforts are measured. And creativity in nature has a curious distribution. It’s something which accumulates through time." ~ Terrence McKenna
LarryMade2 11y ago
"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." Albert Einstein
kumarski 11y ago
Wow. I love this. Thanks everyone.
TurboHaskal 11y ago
“Coding in CoffeeScript is like having sex with a Lady-boy, from one side it’s kind of like the real thing, but from the other you’re still sucking dick.” — Anonymous CTO
thorin 11y ago
What one man can do, another man can do.

15 points by kumarski 11y ago

kumarski 11y ago

Mine is: The history of the world is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.

Praxilla 11y ago
That quote is from - Konrad Adenauer Good one!

Praxilla 11y ago

"All parts of the human body get tired eventually - except the tongue." - Konrad Adenauer

chroma 11y ago

"Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect." — Teller I don't know if Teller intended it, but his observation applies to much more than stage magic. The quote is from Esquire's feature of the mononymous magician.[1] IMO, the whole article is worth a read. 1. http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a15810/teller-magician-interview-1012/ http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a15810/telle...

brador 11y ago
Definition: A mononymous person is an individual who is known and addressed by a mononym, or "single name". Cool!
joshschreuder 11y ago
Great quote and article. I have always admired Teller in particular. He's on a show currently called Fool Us where he and Penn have to work out how performers' tricks work and the respect and wonder on his face after each trick is great to see. I hope I have that kind of ongoing love for my passions after decades pursuing them.

a3n 11y ago

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. Upton Sinclair

JoshTriplett 11y ago

A few of my favorites on various topics: I won't be able to answer all your questions. Rather, I can show you how to be lost productively, and how to become comfortable not knowing things and teaching yourself. -- David Humphrey, Mozilla developer The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!', but 'That's funny ...' -- Isaac Asimov There are better ways to earn a living than to prevent other people from making use of one's contributions to computer science. -- Donald E. Knuth "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." -- George Bernard Shaw I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. -- Woody Allen

rayalez 11y ago
Thanks, these are great!

eip 11y ago

Can you imagine that a rocky, watery planet could have a soul, and that such a soul could be released by a spent body? Can you imagine that the youthful soul of the planet Mars might be dwelling elsewhere, re-establishing its essence on more fertile soil? Souls, like seeds, blow on the winds. The chemistry of spirit is not as restricted as flesh and blood. Think of a sci-fi scenario where earth was shortly to be struck by a giant comet. Comprehending a collision course, the people of earth could calculate their extinction, and then make a radio appeal to all Universal stations to accept the souls of earth. Each galactic station could put the case before their government asking, “Do we want those beings here as refugees? Are they worthy to be among us? Shall we send a travel beam to receive them or shall we let them be cast adrift?” Would it be an easy decision, or would the soul seeds of earth be turned away? Who would be taken? Who would not? Would it be a collective agreement? What would be the terms? This metaphor should make you think about who your are in a cosmic sense, and what your relationship to the garden of earth might be.

redmaverick 11y ago

"There are only two tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants and the other is... .. getting it!" ~ Oscar Wilde

atmosx 11y ago
Wilde must have the best ratio in 'famous quotes / lines written on paper'.

erbdex 11y ago

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.” ― Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living

jimsojim 11y ago

"Things lead to their opposites"

akbarnama 11y ago

Times of stress throughout my life have led me to turn, or return, to the physical sciences, a world where there is no life, but also no death --- Oliver Sacks Each one of here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love completely without complete understanding --- A River Runs Through It Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life --- (read somewhere) On education --- "And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about." "Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world"

kleer001 11y ago

"Nature is the great visible engine against which all other creative efforts are measured. And creativity in nature has a curious distribution. It’s something which accumulates through time." ~ Terrence McKenna

LarryMade2 11y ago

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." Albert Einstein

kumarski 11y ago

Wow. I love this. Thanks everyone.

TurboHaskal 11y ago

“Coding in CoffeeScript is like having sex with a Lady-boy, from one side it’s kind of like the real thing, but from the other you’re still sucking dick.” — Anonymous CTO

thorin 11y ago

What one man can do, another man can do.