…hope is the greatest of misfortunes. For it is by nature an absence, a lack, a source of tension in our lives.

— Luc Ferry, A Brief History of Thought

Darwin accurately realized that if you hold the belief that everyone else is wrong, you’re in trouble.

— Peter Hollins, Mental Models

A man of true science uses but few hard words, and those only when none other will answer his purpose; whereas the smatterer in science thinks, that by mouthing hard words, he proves that he understands hard things.

— Herman Melville, White Jacket

Life is a process, not a substance, and it is necessarily temporary. We are not the reason for the existence of the universe, but our ability for self-awareness and reflection makes us special within it.

— Sean Carroll, The Big Picture

…you can’t defend yourself against this court, all you can do is confess. Confess the first chance you get. That’s the only chance you have to escape, the only one. However, even that is impossible without help from others…

— Franz Kafka, The Trial