What is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.

— Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness

Anything that has to have science in its name isn’t a science.

— Peter Seibel, Coders at Work

If I was truly smart, I should be able to figure out how to be happy, not wretched. Apparently, I didn’t know how to use “smart” to create “happy.”

— Gerald M. Weinberg, Fiona Charles, Keats Kirsch, Dani Weinberg, and Earl Everett, Weinberg on Writing

When there are rational grounds for an opinion, people are content to set them forth and wait for them to operate. In such cases, people do not hold their opinions with passion; they hold them calmly, and set forth their reasons quietly. The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holder’s lack of rational conviction.

— Bertrand Russell, Let the People Think

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.

— Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals