The principles of every passion, and of every sentiment, is in every man; and when touched properly, they rise to life, and warm the heart, and convey that satisfaction, by which a work of genius is distinguished from the adulterate° beauties of a capricious wit and fancy.

— David Hume, Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary

One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.

— Simone De Beauvoir, The Coming of Age

…it seems evident that a majority of those classed as information workers do feel that if their jobs were to vanish, it would make very little difference to the world.

— David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs

In life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control. Where will I find good and bad? In me, in my choices. —EPICTETUS…

— Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way

In a large system without any overarching principle that allows elements to be interpreted in terms of their role in patterns that span the whole design, developers cannot see the forest for the trees.

— Eric Evans, Domain-Driven Design