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7,493 voters
“those at the very top of the class—are going to face a burden that they would not face in a less competitive atmosphere. Citizens of happy countries have higher suicide rates than citizens of unhappy countries, because they look at the smiling faces around them and the contrast is too great. Students at “great” schools look at the brilliant students around them, and how do you think they feel? The phenomenon of relative deprivation applied to education is called—appropriately enough—the “Big Fish–Little Pond Effect.” The more elite an educational institution is, the worse students feel about their own academic abilities. Students who would be at the top of their class at a good school can easily fall to the bottom of a really good school. Students who would feel that they have mastered a subject at a good school can have the feeling that they are falling farther and farther behind in a really good school. And that feeling—as subjective and ridiculous and irrational”
― David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
― David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
“To whomever swapped my tattoo cream for toothpaste........ well played.”
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“John F Kennedy (President Elect) was at the White house in order to confer with his predecessor Dwight Eisenhower. He was told to wait while the President of the United States of America attended to some necessary items. After a time, John was escorted into the Oval Office, and he found himself directly in front of the out-going president. So it was that the conversation between two of the most powerful men on earth began.”
― A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume One
― A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume One
“He desperately tried to think of a story to explain his involvement in her sudden appearance, without mentioning the book of magic in his possession.
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― The Three Witches and the Master
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― The Three Witches and the Master
“fear is the most valuable commodity in the universe.” That blew me away. “Turn on the TV,” he’d say. “What are you seeing? People selling their products? No. People selling the fear of you having to live without their products.” Fuckin’ A, was he right. Fear of aging, fear of loneliness, fear of poverty, fear of failure. Fear is the most basic emotion we have. Fear is primal. Fear sells. That was my mantra. “Fear sells.” When”
― World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
― World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Markus’s 2024 Year in Books
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