I’m in favor of practical hope, provided that it doesn’t exist at the expense of whatever valid pessimism honesty may stipulate.

— Chad Trainer, The Monarchy of Fear

People invested in not knowing, not thinking about, certain things in order to have “the pleasure of sharing an attitude one knows is socially approved” will be ecstatic when their instinct for consensus is gratified—and wrathful when it is thwarted.

— Alan Jacobs, How to Think

Lack of money means discomfort, means squalid worries, means shortage of tobacco, means ever-present consciousness of failure—above all, it means loneliness.

— George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying

You need to get used to verifying for yourself whether what you are told is true or not, and for that, you need to read the original texts as early on as possible.

— Luc Ferry, A Brief History of Thought

It was absolutely amazing to me—though by no means surprising—that people could hold an opinion (and such a strong one at that) about a person whose work they never read, and based solely on information they received second-hand.

— Roman Gelperin, The Master Mind of the Self-Actualizing Person