…nothing is more dangerous than an idea, especially if you feel it’s the only idea you have.

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

In mathematics, the art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it.

— Haim Shapira, Eight Lessons on Infinity

Depression is fundamentally a pathological sense of loss of control (explaining the classic description of depression as “learned helplessness”).

— Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave

hope is nothing but an inconstant joy which has arisen from the image of a future…whose outcome we doubt

— Baruch Spinoza, Spinoza: Complete Works

For those familiar with American history, the first nine digits [of e] after the decimal point can be remembered by e = 2.7 (Andrew Jackson)2, or e = 2.718281828 …, because Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States in 1828. For those good in mathematics, on the other hand, this is a good way to remember their American history.

— Eli Maor, E