…special-purpose languages act as limits to thought in this manner, they are harmful to the user who potentially has larger problems to solve.

— Gerald Weinberg, The Psychology of Computer Programming

When you value planning above outcomes, it’s easy to conflate effort with achievement. Having done work or checked things off a list isn’t the same as creating value through your actions.

— Janice Fraser, Jason Fraser, and Eric Ries, Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama

The danger of symmetry, and repetition especially, is that it can be used as a substitute for thought.

— Paul Graham, Hackers & Painters

If I outline twenty ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually sit down and write an article, that’s action. If I search for a better diet plan and read a few books on the topic, that’s motion. If I actually eat a healthy meal, that’s action. … more often than not, we do it because motion allows us to feel like we’re making progress without running the risk of failure.

— James Clear, Atomic Habits

Lewis explains: How true membership in a body differs from inclusion in a collective may be seen in the structure of a family. The grandfather, the parents, the grown-up son, the child, the dog, and the cat are true members (in the organic sense), precisely because they are not members or units of a homogeneous class. They are not interchangeable. Each person is almost a species in himself….If you subtract any one member, you have not simply reduced the family in number; you have inflicted an injury on its structure.

— Alan Jacobs, How to Think