…every designer will recognize the Rational Model as only an ideal. It somehow describes how we think the design process ought to work, but not how it works in real life.

— Frederick P. Jr. Brooks, The Design of Design

Creativity paradox number 1: The more a creative person knows about the subject of focus, the less the need for creativity….
Creativity paradox number 2: In order to think originally, we must familiarize ourselves with the ideas of others….
Creativity paradox number 3: Creativity paradoxes 1 and 2 do not agree with each other.

— Robert L. Glass and Tom DeMarco, Software Creativity 2.0

Once you’ve committed to a motion, you have to follow through; if it’s something that has the potential for disaster, then flinching while you do it won’t be any less disastrous. An ambiguous situation isn’t something you can resolve by halfhearted actions.

— Eliezer Yudkowsky, Dark Lord’s Answer

‘Revolt’ is the awareness of a crushing fate, but without the resignation that ought to accompany it.

— Philip Stokes, Philosophy 100 Essential Thinkers

Another paradox of rationality is that expertise, brainpower, and conscious reasoning do not, by themselves, guarantee that thinkers will approach the truth. On the contrary, they can be weapons for ever-more-ingenious rationalization.

— Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now