John Blackwell

“Fiction isn't bad. It is vital. Without commonly accepted stories about things like money, states or corporations, no complex human society can function. We can't play football unless everyone believes in the same made-up rules, and we can't enjoy the benefits of markets and courts without similar make-believe stories. But stories are just tools. They shouldn't become our goals or our yardsticks. When we forget that they are mere fiction, we lose touch with reality. Then we begin entire wars `to make a lot of money for the cooperation' or 'to protect the national interest'. Corporations, money and nations exist only in our imagination. We invented them to serve us; why do we find ourselves sacrificing our life in their service.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow

“Humans think in stories rather than in facts, numbers, or equations, and the simpler the story, the better.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

“When examining the history of any human network, it is therefore advisable to stop from time to time and look at things from the perspective of some real entity. How do you know if an entity is real? Very simple. Just ask yourself: Can it suffer? When people burn down the temple of Zeus, Zeus does not suffer. When a bank goes bankrupt, the bank does not suffer. When a country suffers a defeat in war…the country does not really suffer. It is a metaphor. In contrast, when a solider is wounded in battle, the soldier really does suffer. When a peasant has nothing to eat, she really does suffer. The cause of war is fictional, but the suffering is 100 percent real. This is why we should strive to distinguish fiction from reality.”
― Yuval Noah Harari

“A meaningful life can be extremely satisfying even in the midst of hardship, whereas a meaningless life is a terrible ordeal no matter how comfortable it is.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind