Loosening up the coupling of two components usually ends with the creation of additional abstraction layers, which raises complexity on the system. Minimizing the complexity of systems tends to mean more reuse of common components, which tightens couplings.

— Marianne Bellotti, Kill It With Fire

…distrust of the fictional has indeed driven out a confidence in the true…

— Christopher Butler, Postmodernism

History is plainly not a science, and sociology, which pretends that it is, is a fraud; no genuine laws of history have been discovered, and the concepts in current use – ‘cause’, ‘accident’, ‘genius’ – explain nothing: they are merely thin disguises for ignorance.

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

To be free, above all, was to be free from enslavement to one’s own basest desires, which could never be fulfilled, and the pursuit of which could only foster ceaseless craving and discontent.

— Patrick J. Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed

Being an introvert is not an excuse for making no effort to treat people like real human beings, however. The bedrock of strong teams is human connection, which leads to trust.

— Camille Fournier, The Manager’s Path