…social critic’s standard formula for sowing panic: Here’s an anecdote, therefore it’s a trend, therefore it’s a crisis.

— Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now

To be surprised at nothing, they say, is a sign of great intelligence; in my opinion, it might serve equally as a sign of great stupidity…

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot

…it doesn’t matter what you are trying to become better at, if you only do the work when it’s convenient or exciting, then you’ll never be consistent enough to achieve remarkable results.

— James Clear, Atomic Habits

Perfectionism comes from either of two emotional sources: fear of failure, or despair over its impending arrival.

— Dan Charnas, Everything in Its Place

mankind have a little corrupted nature, for they were not born wolves, and they have become wolves; God has given them neither cannon of four-and-twenty pounders, nor bayonets; and yet they have made cannon and bayonets to destroy one another. Into this account I might throw not only bankrupts, but Justice which seizes on the effects of bankrupts to cheat the creditors.

— Voltaire, Candide