Vance

“The state is a fragile organization, and the statesman does not have the moral right to risk its survival on ethical restraint.”
― Henry Kissinger, World Order

“Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initative or creation, there is one elementary truth...that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves. too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones's favor all manner of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man would have believed would have come his way.

Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace, and power in it.”
― W.H. Murray The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

“This is how Laibson explains his procrastination: He can exercise today (his effort cost is –6) to gain delayed health benefits (for him a future value of +8). The net benefit of exercising today for someone with his present bias is (–6 + ½ [8] = –2). In this equation, the future value of +8 was halved because of the automatic discounting of the future, making –2 the net benefit of his exercising today. In contrast, exercising tomorrow has a delayed effort cost of –6 and a delayed benefit of +8, both of which are halved because they are in the future (½ [–6 + 8] = +1). For Laibson the resulting net value for putting off going to the gym is +1, which is better than the –2 net value for exercising today. Consequently, he is rarely at the gym.”
― Walter Mischel, The Marshmallow Test: Understanding Self-control and How To Master It

“Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine? We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it. The Machine develops – but not on our lines. The Machine proceeds – but not to our goal. We only exist as the blood corpuscles that course through its arteries, and if it could work without us, it would let us die.”
― E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops