…teaching programming improves generic thinking skills such as logical thinking and generally “sharpens the mind.”

— Peter J. Denning and Matti Tedre, Computational Thinking

Above all, don’t ask what to believe-ask what to anticipate. Every question of belief should flow from a question of anticipation, and that question of anticipation should be the center of the inquiry.

— Eliezer Yudkowsky, Rationality

An optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist fears that this is so.

— Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar…

…if you constantly interrupt your task to check email or respond to an IM text message, your effective IQ drops ten points.

— Andy Hunt, Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

…if you’re a member of the ruling class, it’s very much in your interests to say, “Now, now, let’s put aside your selfish interest in having your own way and just enjoy one another’s company. Let’s take a negotiating posture toward one another, shall we?” Such counsel leaves the world as it is, and disarms demands for justice.

— Alan Jacobs, How to Think