Mirza > Mirza's Quotes

“Police work wouldn't be possible without coffee," Wallander said.
"No work would be possible without coffee."
They pondered the importance of coffee in silence.”
― Henning Mankell, One Step Behind

“To grow up is to wonder about things; to be grown up is to slowly forget the things you wondered about as a child.”
― Henning Mankell, When the Snow Fell

“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“You want to see a very bad man? Make an ordinary man successful beyond his imagination. Let’s see how good he is when he can do whatever he wants.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“Learn everything. Fill your mind with knowledge—it’s the only kind of power no one can take away from you.” Hansu never told him to study, but rather to learn, and it occurred to Noa that there was a marked difference. Learning was like playing, not labor.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“No one is clean. Living makes you dirty.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“History has failed us, but no matter.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“a man must learn to forgive—to know what is important, that to live without forgiveness was a kind of death with breathing and movement.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“We cannot help but be interested in the stories of people that history pushes aside so thoughtlessly.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“Patriotism is just an idea, so is capitalism or communism. But ideas can make men forget their own interests. And the guys in charge will exploit men who believe in ideas too much.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“Living everyday in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“The earlier adventures of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan provided a ready-to-go blueprint for how to manage the process. Just as China didn’t have to reinvent the wheel on technology—instead copying what already existed in more advanced economies—so also they didn’t have to reinvent the model of a developmental state, instead copying what had already worked so well for their East Asian neighbors.”
― Thomas Orlik, China: The Bubble That Never Pops

“Call it “Sinophrenia”: the simultaneous belief that China is about to collapse and about to take over the world.”
― Thomas Orlik, China: The Bubble That Never Pops

“I am obligated to submit myself to the scientific process simply because I require it from others, but no more than that. When I read empirical claims in medicine or other sciences, I like these claims to go through the peer-review mechanism, a fact-checking of sorts, an examination of the rigor of the approach. Logical statements, or those backed by mathematical reasoning, on the other hand, do not require such a mechanism: they can and must stand on their own legs. So I publish technical footnotes for these books in specialized and academic outlets, and nothing more (and limit them to statements that require proofs or more elaborate technical arguments). But for the sake of authenticity and to avoid careerism (the debasing of knowledge by turning it into a competitive sport), I ban myself from publishing anything outside of these footnotes.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder

“when in action, new problems and scares emerge every day to displace and eliminate the previous day’s headaches, resentments, and conflicts. A nail displaces another nail, with astonishing variety. But academics (particularly in social science) seem to distrust each other; they live in petty obsessions, envy, and icy-cold hatreds, with small snubs developing into grudges, fossilized over time in the loneliness of the transaction with a computer screen and the immutability of their environment.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder