There was a time when academia was society’s refuge for the eccentric, brilliant, and impractical. No longer. It is now the domain of professional self-marketers. As for the eccentric, brilliant, and impractical: it would seem society now has no place for them at all.

— David Graeber, The Utopia of Rules

Every group of people with an unusual goal—good, bad, or silly—will trend toward the cult attractor unless they make a constant effort to resist it.

— Eliezer Yudkowsky, How to Actually Change Your Mind

Grades are a measure of progress, but not a measure of promise.

— Francis Su, Mathematics for Human Flourishing

Lisp is worth learning for the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it; that experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use Lisp itself a lot.

— Paul Graham, Hackers & Painter

It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.

— Edsger W.Dijkstra, How Do We Tell Truths That Might Hurt?