Brian

“I am subject to constant criticism all day long,” the president told me in our Oval Office discussion. “And some of it may be legitimate; much of it may be illegitimate. Some of it may be sincere; some of it may be entirely politically motivated. If I spent all my time thinking about it, I’d be paralyzed. And frankly, the voters would justifiably say, ‘I need somebody who’s focused on giving me a job, not whether his feelings are hurt.”
― Michael Eric Dyson, The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America

“We now know that gut microbes are part of this axis, in both directions. Since the 1970s, a trickle of studies have shown that any kind of stress – starvation, sleeplessness, being separated from one’s mother, the sudden arrival of an aggressive individual, uncomfortable temperatures, overcrowding, even loud noises – can change a mouse’s gut microbiome. The opposite is also true: the microbiome can affect a host’s behaviour, including its social attitudes and its ability to deal with stress.40”
― Ed Yong, I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life

“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

“Increased immigration and diversity are not only inevitable, but over the long run they are also desirable. Ethnic diversity is, on balance, an important social asset, as the history of my own country demonstrates.”
― Len Fisher, Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life