I use Evernote to collect and organize and the content I consume and create. Below are some of my favorite quotes I’ve collected over the past few months:
“The absolutely worst day of Phil’s life took place under the exact same conditions as the absolutely best day of Phil’s life. The best day and the worst day were the same day. In fact, a whole universe of experiences proved to be possible on this single day. The only difference was Phil himself, what he noticed, how he interpreted his surroundings, and what he chose to do”
– Danny Rubin, How To Write Groundhog Day
“So going to the police with a legitimate complaint is far from sure to produce a good result.
In addition to authorities they deem untrustworthy, Russian drivers must contend with the possibility of being attacked by another driver. The below video compiles fights between drivers that feature crowbars, slapping, punching, and worse.
Then there are pedestrians who get themselves hit by cars on purpose, for a payoff. A video compilation (below) of failed scams offers a few examples.
Overall, in a country where traffic conditions are horrible, insurance scams and roadside fights are always a possibility, and the police are widely viewed as corrupt, video evidence of one’s innocence can be a very valuable thing.”
– Why Russian Drivers Have Dash Cams
“He wasn’t just another product of the educational conveyor-belt.
Where someone else tells you exactly what can and can’t be done.
What the limitations are.
What’s acceptable and what isn’t.
Creativity must be about questioning the way things are and doing them differently.
You can’t do that if you’ve had all questioning knocked out of you.
If your brain has been turned into a receptacle for current wisdom.
If all you’ve learned is to regurgitate the expected answers.
The academic world doesn’t have the same opportunities as the real world.”
– via Dave Trott
“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
– CS Lewis
“Unless a man is in part a humorist, he is only in part a man”
– GK Chesterton
“Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next—and disappear. That’s why it’s important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.”
– Moonwalking With Einstein
“We are always looking for the why beneath what’s happening on the surface. Not only because our survival might depend on it, but because it’s exhilarating. It makes us feel something—namely, curiosity. Having our curiosity piqued is visceral. And it leads to something even more potent: the anticipation of knowledge we’re now hungry for, a sensation caused by that pleasurable rush of dopamine. Because being curious is necessary for survival”
– Wired For Story
“He didn’t drink, hated smoking and was always in by curfew. He also disliked parties; he wasn’t interested in standing around “listening to a lot of bullshit,” he told Esquire’s Richard Ben Cramer in 1986.”
– On the great baseball player Ted Williams
“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while the ordinary man takes everything as either a blessing or a curse.”
— Carlos Castaneda
“If it hurts, do it more.”
There are a whole raft of things that get easier the more often you do them. Like dishes: waiting until you’ve used all the plates and cleaning them then is painful. Much better to wash them quickly, so now I clean as I cook. Or exercise: running once a month is a bear, but doing it frequently is a joy. Once you see this pattern, it’s everywhere, and learning it really changed my life.”
– via Quora
“Well, I think “likability” is an overused word. I don’t watch people ’cause I like them; I watch them because they’re compelling. Sympathetic is a little different. It’s like I understand this person, and I never know quite what they’re going to do and I’m really interested in what they might do next and they feel real to me. That’s, I think, way more valuable than likable. Likable just thins you out. Working to make a character likable is what kills most TV shows. It’s so fun to watch somebody make terrible mistakes. And also, by the way, likable people, people who are good people, make really dumb mistakes. It’s fun to watch them do it.”
– Louis CK
“Until you have done something for humanity, you should be ashamed to die.”
– Horace Mann
