Zack > Zack's Quotes

“The concept of “mental health” in our society is defined largely by the extent to which an individual behaves in accord with the needs of the system and does so without showing signs of stress.”
― Theodore J. Kaczynski, Industrial Society and Its Future

“The Scientist’s clear mind sees a foggy world, full of complexity and nuance and messiness, the Zealot’s foggy mind shows them a clear, simple world, full of crisp lines and black-and-white distinctions.”
― Tim Urban, What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies

“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
― David Goggins, Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

“In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.”
― Uncle Iroh

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
― J. Krishnamurti

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”
― Socrates

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”
― Bruce Lee

“We have to create culture, don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world.”
― Terence McKenna

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

“When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges, in order to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.”
― Bruce Lee

“We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.”
― Edward O. Wilson, The Social Conquest of Earth

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
― Socrates

“But just as a toaster used as a doorstop is still a machine designed to toast bread, you – whatever you choose to do with your life – are still a machine designed to propagate your genes. All of us are. It’s what the priests, the sages and philosophers searched for in vain: the ultimate explanation for our existence.”
― Steve Stewart-Williams, The Ape that Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve