Every age, every culture, every custom and tradition has its own character, its own weakness and its own strength, its beauties and ugliness; accepts certain sufferings as matters of course, puts up patiently with certain evils. Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap.

— Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf

A list of the ways in which we’re stupid can’t explain why we’re so smart: smart enough to have discovered the laws of nature, transformed the planet, lengthened and enriched our lives, and, not least, articulated the rules of rationality that we so often flout.

— Steven Pinker, Rationality

The world is divided into two sorts of people: those who think the world is divided into two sorts of people and those who don’t.

— Isaiah Berlin, Henry Hardy, and Michael Ignatieff, The Hedgehog and the Fox

…our passion and perseverance do not spring from a cold, calculating analysis of the costs and benefits of alternatives. Rather, the source of our strength is the person we know ourselves to be.

— Angela Duckworth, Grit

It is tempting to quote authors when they express our very own thoughts but with a clarity and psychological accuracy we cannot match.

— Alain De Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy