It is no longer a case of thinking for oneself, but rather of placing trust in another. And in that, no doubt, lies the most profound and significant difference between philosophy and religion.

— Luc Ferry, A Brief History of Thought

Worshipping rationality won’t make you sane any more than worshipping gravity enables you to fly.

— Eliezer Yudkowsky, How to Actually Change Your Mind

If conceptual integrity is the final goal, negotiation among peers is the classic recipe for bloated products! The result is design by committee, where none dare say “No” to another’s suggestion.

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

If you believed in Christianity or Islam, it was called “faith.” But if you believed in astrology or Friday the thirteenth it was superstition!

— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World

Fashion changes quickly, Commerce less quickly, Infrastructure slower than that, then Governance, then Culture, and slowest is Nature. The fast parts learn, propose, and absorb shocks; the slow parts remember, integrate, and constrain. The fast parts get all the attention. The slow parts have all the power.

— Stewart Brand, SALT Summaries, Condensed Ideas About Long-Term Thinking