Stepan Kuzmin > Stepan's Quotes

“They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.
No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.
Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.
They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."
And what difference does that make?”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

“Уверяют, будто Людовик XIV, увидев новые карты своих владений, основанные на точном определении долготы, посетовал, что геодезисты отняли у него больше земель, чем неприятель.”
― Dava Sobel, Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

“Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle

“Лагерь — отрицательная школа жизни целиком и полностью. Ничего полезного, нужного никто оттуда не вынесет, ни сам заключенный, ни его начальник, ни его охрана, ни невольные свидетели — инженеры, геологи, врачи, — ни начальники, ни подчиненные.

Каждая минута лагерной жизни — отравленная минута.”
― Варлам Шаламов, Колымские рассказы. Стихотворения

“Нет, мы любим только свежие воспоминания о смерти наших друзей, свежее горе, свою скорбь — словом, самих себя!”
― Альбер Камю, Посторонний / Падение

“My feeling is that the concept of superrationality is one whose truth will come to dominate among intelligent beings in the universe simply because its adherents will survive certain kinds of situations where its opponents will perish. Let’s wait a few spins of the galaxy and see. After all, healthy logic is whatever remains after evolution’s merciless pruning.”
― Douglas Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas: Questing For The Essence Of Mind And Pattern

“К счастью для нас, звезды не взрываются столь часто, примерно раз в сто лет в галактике. Но нам повезло, что они взрываются, потому что, если бы не это, нас бы здесь не было. Один из самых поэтичных фактов, которые я знаю о Вселенной, что, по сути, каждый атом в вашем теле произошел из звезды, которая взорвалась. Более того, атомы в левой руке, возможно, произошли из одной звезды, а в правой — из другой. Мы все, буквально, звездные дети, и наши тела сделаны из звездной пыли.”
― Lawrence M. Krauss, A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing

“Тогда Траут уже получил всеобщее признание как великий писатель и учёный. Американская Академия наук и искусств поставила памятник над его прахом. На лицевой стороне была высечена надпись — цитата из его последнего, двести девятого, романа, который остался недописанным из-за его кончины. Памятник выглядел так:
Килгор Траут
1907—1981
«Если твои
идеи гуманны
— значит ты здоров»”
― Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Breakfast of Champions

“something is easy if it is attainable by logical thought processes.”
― Eugenia Cheng, How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics

“Mathematics is the study of anything that obeys the rules of logic, using the rules of logic.”
― Eugenia Cheng, How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics

“The first is that seemingly small features of social situations can have massive effects on people’s behavior; nudges are everywhere, even if we do not see them. Choice architecture, both good and bad, is pervasive and unavoidable, and it greatly affects our decisions. The second claim is that libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron. Choice architects can preserve freedom of choice while also nudging people in directions that will improve their lives.”
― Richard H. Thaler, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

“It sees post-rock as an archipelago: islands that may speak different languages and are probably only on nodding terms with one another. But they are in the same sea. And that sea, the one ideological core that unites the major artists covered in this book, is deconstruction: a fierce desire to unpick and change predictable channels of expression.”
― Jeanette Leech, Fearless: The Making Of Post-Rock

“We asked Shoup if his research allows him to optimize his own commute, through the Los Angeles traffic to his office at UCLA. Does arguably the world’s top expert on parking have some kind of secret weapon? He does: “I ride my bike.”
― Brian Christian, Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

“When balancing favorite experiences and new ones, nothing matters as much as the interval over which we plan to enjoy them.”
― Brian Christian, Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

“To live in a restless world requires a certain restlessness in oneself. So long as things continue to change, you must never fully cease exploring.”
― Brian Christian, Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

“I’ll tell you what, Sophie. I don’t think I believe in real philosophers any longer. Everything is synthetic nowadays.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World

“IN ORDER TO BE A PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL COMPUTING MACHINE, IT IS NOT REQUISITE TO KNOW WHAT ARITHMETIC IS.”
― Daniel C. Dennett, From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds

“Stoic tranquility was a psychological state marked by the absence of negative emotions, such as grief, anger, and anxiety, and the presence of positive emotions, such as joy.”
― William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

“To be human was to continually dumb the world down into an understandable story that keeps things simple.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library