…if water is to have the various properties in virtue of which it plays its beneficial part in the economy of the physical world and the life of mankind, it cannot at the same time lack its obnoxious capacity to drown us…

— Martin Gardner, The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener

…research shows that about 50 percent of your overall sense of happiness is genetically determined … 10 percent is attributable to general circumstances (educational level, income, whether you are married or single, etc.) that are difficult to change … remaining 40 percent is derived from your day-to-day behavior and the way you think about yourself and others.

— Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds

We need to treat technology like the untamed beast it is. An unlikely but possible massive failure shouldn’t lead to a colossal disaster.

— Lance Fortnow, The Golden Ticket

humans appear to have a built-in immune system for threats to their own well-being. If we’re about to blame ourselves for bad behavior, our minds intervene with a whitewash.

— David DeSteno, The Truth About Trust

Legacy modernizations are hard not because they are technically hard—the problems and the solutions are usually well understood—it’s the people side of the modernization effort that is hard.

— Marianne Bellotti, Kill It With Fire