Conscious experiences range from vivid color sensations to experience of the faintest background aromas; from hard-edged pains to the elusive experience of thoughts on the tip of one’s tongue. . . . All these have a distinct experienced quality. . . . To put it another way, we can say that a mental state is conscious if it has a qualitative feel—an associated quality of experience.

— David Gelernter, The Tides of Mind

It’s important to realize that being productive requires that you become skilled at managing your emotional state. Emotional stress can kill your ability to code.

— Robert C. Martin, Clean Craftsmanship

Mind, n. A mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain. Its chief activity consists in the endeavor to ascertain its own nature, the futility of the attempt being due to the fact that it has nothing but itself to know itself with.

— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

For when gods fight among themselves, men have to die

— Etienne Gilson, The Unity of Philosophical Experience

One reason rhetorical sleight of hand gets past us is that, when listening to someone speak, we tend to focus on whether we like that person rather than whether they are making any sense.

— Ali Almossawi and Alejandro Giraldo, An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language