Let’s take another example. Why does a plane crash? The proximate cause is, “there was not enough lift to overcome gravity”—again, absolutely true, but not in any way useful.
“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
― The Fellowship of the Ring
― The Fellowship of the Ring
“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”
― Mostly Harmless
― Mostly Harmless
“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.”
― Meditations
― Meditations
“Sometimes you can't really tell when you are happy until it is over and you are thinking about it later”
― Poison for Breakfast
― Poison for Breakfast
“Being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say...but writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that the impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence.”
― The Consolations of Philosophy
― The Consolations of Philosophy
Bryan’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Bryan’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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