Veronica Velcheva

“No matter how competent or how seasoned, every astronaut is essentially a perpetual student, forever cramming for the next test. It's not how I envisioned things when I was 9 years old. Then I dreamed of blasting off in a blaze of glory to explore the universe, not sitting in a classroom studying orbital mechanics. In Russian.”
― Chris Hadfield, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."

In 1984, Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us".”
― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

“What we need to understand is that books weren't written so that young people could write essays about them, but so that they could read them if they really wanted to.

Knowledge, academic track record, career, and social life are one thing. Our intimacy and cultural awareness as readers are quite another.”
― Daniel Pennac, Comme un roman

“It is not an accident that those who follow Floyd also follow a common pattern. We turn down the lights and we turn up the volume. We turn it up until the inner world has no choice but to follow whatever the music may lead.
("It's All Dark: The Eclipse Of The Damaged Brain")”
― Randall E. Auxier