Christopher > Christopher's Quotes

“If you tell somebody something, you've forever robbed them of the opportunity to discover it for themselves.”
― Curt Gabrielson, Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff

“Finally, don’t forget that what you want to see happen is thoughtful tinkering. You want to see kids thinking about what they’re tinkering with. I assume
that eventually, every kid will do this thinking, but it’s good to make a conscious
effort to get them to make a conscious effort to learn as they tinker. “Conscientization” was Paulo Freire’s word for a different but related process. Here,
what you want is for kids to become conscious of how they are learning, what there is to learn, and what they know already. Once they ’ve got this ability,there is no stopping their self-education.”
― Curt Gabrielson, Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff

“Assembly-line instruction is what hap-pens in many schools. Learning is separated from productive activity. Kids are separated from families and most other adults and have little agency to decide how
and when they’ll plug into the learning process. The content is decided by experts
far removed from the community. Kids may have no idea why they’re learning this
content, nor any idea how to apply it, but the broader society has deemed it important. Students are expected to ingest the content and later they are sorted ac-cording to how accurately they can parrot back this content on exams.”
― Curt Gabrielson, Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff

“Your kids will not be stepping from or into a vacuum of culture when they
enter your tinkering space. As Rogoff writes, learning often happens by means of
“transformative participation in shared socio-cultural endeavors.” That means you’ll
see kids change and grow as they participate in your little community of tinkerers.
Linda Polin similarly maintains that your kids will learn “through a process of en-culturation into a slowly but constantly evolving practice.” Your tinkerers will learn
stuff as they become familiar with the norms of your tinkering environment, which
is also constantly updating, if you will, in response to them.”
― Curt Gabrielson, Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff

“Don’t be surprised if you open up one of these references and find your eyes crossing at the
site of what appears to be a completely separate language: “transformative enculturation
through legitimate peripheral situated participation in a practice community…” It may inspire
you to reject it all outright. But also don’t forget the words of Kurt Lewin: “There’s nothing more
practical than a good theory!” And know that whatever happens in a given educational situation, it’s following someone’s theories and beliefs, conscious or not. Thus, it’s better to think
about it and make sure it makes sense. Then get back to the tinkering.”
― Curt Gabrielson, Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff

“The value of the student’s question is supreme. The best initial response to a question is not to answer it, per se, but to validate it, protect it, support it, and make a
space for it. Like a blossom just emerging, a question is vulnerable and delicate. A
direct answer can extinguish a question if you’re not careful. But if you nourish the
blossom, it will grow and give fruit in the form of insight as well as more questions.
In short, a question needs to be nurtured more than answered. It should be given
center stage, admired, relished, embraced, and sustained.”
― Curt Gabrielson, Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff

“From the dawn of time, whenever humanity has wanted to know more, we have achieved it most effectively not by removing ourselves from the world to ponder and theorize, but rather by getting our hands dirty and making careful observations of real stuff. In short, we have learned primarily by tinkering.”
― Curt Gabrielson, Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff

“Visualize Yourself Doing, Not Achieving.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“Happiness doesn't just flow from success; it actually causes it.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“We do not love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we do them.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“When you gossip about another person, listeners unconsciously associate you with the characteristics you are describing, ultimately leading to those characteristics’ being “transferred” to you. So, say positive and pleasant things about friends and colleagues, and you are seen as a nice person. In contrast, constantly complain about their failings, and people will unconsciously apply the negative traits and incompetence to you.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“You know, in this job we really need someone who is responsible.” The man thinks for a moment, then replies, “I am perfect for you. In my last job lots of things went badly wrong, and they always said that I was responsible.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“When trying to write your way to a happier life, expressing gratitude is just the tip of the iceberg.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“In short, when it comes to an instant fix for everyday happiness, certain types of writing have a surprisingly quick and large impact. Expressing gratitude, thinking about a perfect future, and affectionate writing have been scientifically proven to work—and all they require is a pen, a piece of paper, and a few moments of your time.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“The message is clear – those who do not feel in control of their lives are less successful, and less psychologically and physically healthy, than those who do feel in control.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“It goes something like this: I am one person among 6.5 billion people on Earth at the moment. That's one person among 6,500,000,000 people. That'a lot of Wembley Stadiums full of people, and even more double-decker buses (apparently the standard British measurements for size). And we live on an Earth that is spinning at 67,000 miles an hour through space around a sun that is the centre of our solar system (and our solar system is spinning around the centre of the Milky Way at 530,000 mph). Just our solar system (which is a tiny speck within the entire universe) is very big indeed. If Earth was a peppercorn and Jupiter was a chestnut (the standard American measurements), you'd have to place them 100 metres apart to get a sense of the real distance between us.

And this universe is only one of many. In fact, the chances are that there are many, many more populated Earths - just like ours - in other universes.

And that's just space.

Have a look at time, too. If you're in for a good run, you may spend 85 years on this Earth. Man has been around for 100,000 years, so you're going to spend just 0.00085 percent of man's history living on this Earth. And Man's stay on Earth has been very short in the context of the life of the Earth (which is 4.5 billion years old): if the Earth had been around for the equivalent of a day (with the Big Bang kicking it all off at midnight), humans didn't turn up until 11.59.58 p.m. That means we've only been around for the last two seconds.

A lifetime is gone in a flash. There are relatively few people on this Earth that were here 100 years ago. Just as you'll be gone (relatively) soon.

So, with just the briefest look at the spatial and temporal context of our lives, we are utterly insignificant. As the Perspective Machine lifts up so far above the woods that we forget what the word means, we see just one moving light. It is beautiful. A small, gently glowing light. It is a firefly lost somewhere in the cosmos. And a firefly - on Earth - lives for just one night. It glows beautifully, then goes out.

And up there so high in our Perspective Machine we realize that our lives are really just like that of the firefly. Except the air is full of 6.5 billion fireflies. They're glowing beautifully for one night. Then they are gone.

So, Fuck It, you might as well REALLY glow.”
― John C. Parkin, F**k It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way

“materialism takes root in early childhood, and is driven mainly by low self-esteem.”
― Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”
― Nikola Tesla

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
― Plato

“One man’s “magic” is another man’s engineering. “Supernatural” is a null word.”
― Robert Heinlein

“Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers

“Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”
― Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist-a master-and that is what Auguste Rodin was-can look at an old woman, protray her exactly as she is...and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be...and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart...no matter what the merciless hours have done to her. Look at her, Ben. Growing old doesn't matter to you and me; we were never meant to be admired-but it does to them.”
― Robert Heinlein

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy - in fact, they are almost incompatible; one emotion hardly leaves room for the other.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

“Expectation is the root of all heartache.”
― William Shakespeare

“For all evils there are two remedies - time and silence.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

“All human wisdom is contained in these two words--"Wait and Hope.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

“When you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo