…only poetry could heal the rift that had grown up between Religion and Reason.

— Lloyd Spencer, Introducing Hegel

Good work experiences have always got a fair measure of challenge about them.

— Tom DeMarco, Tim Lister, Peopleware

Genius isn’t a noun; it’s a verb.

— Dan Charnas, Everything in Its Place

Ever since people rebelled against authority in the Enlightenment, and set about using the force of reason to make their lives better, they have found a way to do so, and there is little doubt that they will continue to win victories against the forces of death.

— Angus Deaton, The Great Escape

I scarcely ever knew a city that did not desire the destruction of a neighbouring city, nor a family that did not wish to exterminate some other family. Everywhere the weak execrate the powerful, before whom they cringe; and the powerful beat them like sheep whose wool and flesh they sell. A million regimented assassins, from one extremity of Europe to the other, get their bread by disciplined depredation and murder, for want of more honest employment. Even in those cities which seem to enjoy peace, and where the arts flourish, the inhabitants are devoured by more envy, care, and uneasiness than are experienced by a besieged town. Secret griefs are more cruel than public calamities.

— Voltaire, Candide