Top short quotes (2009-2013) by karma per character:
55 A Bet is a Tax on Bullshit Alex Tabarrok
45 Luck is statistics taken personally. Penn Jellete
42 I’ve got to start listening to those quiet, nagging doubts.Calvin
33 Comic Quote Minus 37 -- Ryan Armand Also a favourite.
34 Nobody is smart enough to be wrong all the time.Ken Wilber
32 A problem well stated is a problem half solved.Charles Kettering
48 I will not procrastinate regarding any ritual granting immortality. --Evil Overlord List #230
29 The greatest weariness comes from work not done.-Eric Hoffer
26 “Most haystacks do not even have a needle.” -- Lorenzo
24 “I accidentally changed my mind.” my four-year-old
40 Shipping is a feature. A really important feature. Your product must have it.-Joel Spolsky
31 Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. Voltaire
39 People say “think outside the box,” as if the box wasn’t a fucking great idea.Sean Thomason
38 The Noah principle: predicting rain doesn’t count, building arks does. -Warren E. Buffett
37 It’s easy to lie with statistics, but it’s easier to lie without them. -Fred Mosteller
30 If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.-Seneca
34 It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics.George Bernard Shaw
15 Focusing is about saying no.-- Steve Jobs
34 “Working in mysterious ways” is the greatest euphemism for failure ever devised.TheTweetOfGod
18 “A problem well put, is half solved.”—John Dewey
34 Market exchange is a pathetically inadequate substitute for love, but it scales better.S. T. Rev
12 Death is the gods’ crime.Unsounded
24 The most practical thing in the world is a good theory. Helmholtz
29 When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? John Maynard Keynes
30 “Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.”—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
28 Writing program code is a good way of debugging your thinking. -- Bill Venables
28 It is easy to be certain....One has only to be sufficiently vague.Charles S. Peirce
30 Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations. — John Von Neumann
31 There is one rule that’s very simple, but not easy: observe reality and adjust. Ran Prieur
31 It’s a horrible feeling when you don’t understand why you did something.-- Dennis Monokroussos
26 Shouldn’t “it works like a charm” be said about things that don’t work?Jason Roy
21 Things are only impossible until they’re not. -- Jean-Luc Picard
30 Now, now, perfectly symmetrical violence never solved anything.--Professor Farnsworth, Futurama.
24 Part of the potential of things is how they break. Vi Hart, How To Snakes
26 The dream is damned and dreamer too if dreaming’s all that dreamers do.--Rory Miller
25 A scholar is just a library’s way of making another library. Daniel Dennett
29 We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it. Mark Twain
29 The Company that needs a new machine tool is already paying for it. -old Warner Swasey ad
25 “Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from SCIENCE!” ~Girl Genius
26 Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers. — Grossman’s Law
22 Most people would rather die than think; many do. – Bertrand Russell
18 A sharp knife is nothing without a sharp eye.Klingon proverb.
22 The only road to doing good shows, is doing bad shows.Louis C.K., on Reddit
28 My brain technically-not-a-lies to me far more than it actually lies to me.-- Aristosophy (again)
23 The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off. Gloria Steinem
27 Nature draws no line between living and nonliving. -- K. Eric Drexler, Engines of Creation
26 “Anything left on your bucket list?”“Not dying...”-Bill Gates in his AMA on reddit.
22 It is better to destroy one’s own errors than those of others. Democritus
12 Reality is not optional. Thomas Sowell
27 If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance we can solve them.-- Isaac Asimov
17 Statistics is applied philosophy of science. A. P. Dawid
26 A man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance.Unknown
22 Forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today. Lawrence Krauss
26 Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.H.L. Mencken
27 The first rule of human club is you don’t explicitly discuss the rules of human club.Silas Dogood
23 Go down deep enough into anything and you will find mathematics. Dean Schlicter
18 Good things come to those who steal them.-- Magnificent Sasquatch
24 We are built to be effective animals, not happy ones. -Robert Wright, The Moral Animal
19 Being right too soon is socially unacceptable. Robert A. Heinlein
14 “Anything you can do, I can do meta” -Rudolf Carnap
17 Mind is a machine for jumping to conclusions—Daniel Kahneman
26 If Tetris has taught me anything it’s that errors pile up and accomplishments disappear.-Unknown
26 A faith which cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets.Arthur C. Clarke
26 Nobody panics when things go “according to plan”… even if the plan is horrifying. The Joker
23 “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” --Friedrich Nietzsche
14 I intend to live forever or die trying—Groucho Marx
26 We shall not grow wiser before we learn that much that we have done was very foolish.-- F. A. Hayek
20 I honestly don’t know. Let’s see what happens. -- Hans. The Troll Hunter
16 Luck is opportunity plus preparation plus luck.--Jane Espenson
20 The singularity is my retirement plan. -- tocomment, in a Hacker News post
19 Better our hypotheses die for our errors than ourselves. -- Karl Popper
11 Whenever you can, count.--Sir Francis Galton
22 Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.-Charles Babbage
19 In general, we are least aware of what our minds do best. — Marvin Minsky
20 It is easier to love humanity than to love one’s neighbor.--Eric Hoffer, on Near/Far
15 Keep your solutions close, and your problems closer.afoolswisdom
18 “If God gives you lemons, you find a new God.”—Powerthirst 2: Re-Domination
17 Truth comes out of error more easily than out of confusion.-Francis Bacon
23 Opening your eyes doesn’t make a bad picture worse. http://onefte.com/2011/07/17/bully-for-you/
19 Know the hair you have to get the hair you want. -Pantene Pro-V hair care bottle
16 The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it. -Alan Saporta
16 Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse. — Wolof proverb
20 Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -- Voltaire
18 Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.--Bruce Lee
9 AI makes philosophy honest -- Dan Dennet
18 God created the Earth, but the Dutch created the Netherlands. -- Dutch proverb
20 “Just because you no longer believe a lie, does not mean you now know the truth.”Mark Atwood
14 History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme. -Mark Twain
17 The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. -- Plutarch
18 The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself. -Nassim Nicholas Taleb
16 Like all dreamers, I confused disenchantment with truth. (Jean-Paul Sartre)
20 Man, I’m amazing! I’m a machine that turns FOOD into IDEAS! -- T-Rex, Dinosaur Comics #539
17 What good fortune for those in power that people do not think. Adolph Hitler
14 We see things not as they are but as we are, …- G. T. W. Patrick
19 You don’t have to believe everything you think. Seen on bumper sticker, via ^zhurnaly.
19 The truth is out there, but so are the lies.-Dana Scully, The X-Files, Season 1, Episode 17
13 Would anybody tell me if I was getting stupider? Mike Patton
13 We’re even wrong about which mistakes we’re making.-Carl Winfeld
13 If I close my mind in fear, please pry it open. -- Metallica
This post made me consider using spaced repetition software.
Note: Penn’s last name is “Jillette” (not “Jellete”).
The one from Carnap (“Anything you can do, I can do meta”) might not really be from Carnap. Can anyone find a source besides this one, which only gets it back to 1991?
I think it’s Daniel Dennet (said to Hofstadter).
But it really should be from Carnap.
Top short quotes (2009-2013) by karma per character:
55 A Bet is a Tax on Bullshit Alex Tabarrok
45 Luck is statistics taken personally. Penn Jellete
42 I’ve got to start listening to those quiet, nagging doubts.Calvin
33 Comic Quote Minus 37 -- Ryan Armand Also a favourite.
34 Nobody is smart enough to be wrong all the time.Ken Wilber
32 A problem well stated is a problem half solved.Charles Kettering
48 I will not procrastinate regarding any ritual granting immortality. --Evil Overlord List #230
29 The greatest weariness comes from work not done.-Eric Hoffer
26 “Most haystacks do not even have a needle.” -- Lorenzo
24 “I accidentally changed my mind.” my four-year-old
40 Shipping is a feature. A really important feature. Your product must have it.-Joel Spolsky
31 Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. Voltaire
39 People say “think outside the box,” as if the box wasn’t a fucking great idea.Sean Thomason
38 The Noah principle: predicting rain doesn’t count, building arks does. -Warren E. Buffett
37 It’s easy to lie with statistics, but it’s easier to lie without them. -Fred Mosteller
30 If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.-Seneca
34 It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics.George Bernard Shaw
15 Focusing is about saying no.-- Steve Jobs
34 “Working in mysterious ways” is the greatest euphemism for failure ever devised.TheTweetOfGod
18 “A problem well put, is half solved.”—John Dewey
34 Market exchange is a pathetically inadequate substitute for love, but it scales better.S. T. Rev
12 Death is the gods’ crime.Unsounded
24 The most practical thing in the world is a good theory. Helmholtz
29 When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? John Maynard Keynes
30 “Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.”—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
28 Writing program code is a good way of debugging your thinking. -- Bill Venables
28 It is easy to be certain....One has only to be sufficiently vague.Charles S. Peirce
30 Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations. — John Von Neumann
31 There is one rule that’s very simple, but not easy: observe reality and adjust. Ran Prieur
31 It’s a horrible feeling when you don’t understand why you did something.-- Dennis Monokroussos
26 Shouldn’t “it works like a charm” be said about things that don’t work?Jason Roy
21 Things are only impossible until they’re not. -- Jean-Luc Picard
30 Now, now, perfectly symmetrical violence never solved anything.--Professor Farnsworth, Futurama.
24 Part of the potential of things is how they break. Vi Hart, How To Snakes
26 The dream is damned and dreamer too if dreaming’s all that dreamers do.--Rory Miller
25 A scholar is just a library’s way of making another library. Daniel Dennett
29 We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it. Mark Twain
29 The Company that needs a new machine tool is already paying for it. -old Warner Swasey ad
25 “Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from SCIENCE!” ~Girl Genius
26 Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers. — Grossman’s Law
22 Most people would rather die than think; many do. – Bertrand Russell
18 A sharp knife is nothing without a sharp eye.Klingon proverb.
22 The only road to doing good shows, is doing bad shows.Louis C.K., on Reddit
28 My brain technically-not-a-lies to me far more than it actually lies to me.-- Aristosophy (again)
23 The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off. Gloria Steinem
27 Nature draws no line between living and nonliving. -- K. Eric Drexler, Engines of Creation
26 “Anything left on your bucket list?”“Not dying...”-Bill Gates in his AMA on reddit.
22 It is better to destroy one’s own errors than those of others. Democritus
12 Reality is not optional. Thomas Sowell
27 If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance we can solve them.-- Isaac Asimov
17 Statistics is applied philosophy of science. A. P. Dawid
26 A man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance.Unknown
22 Forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today. Lawrence Krauss
26 Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.H.L. Mencken
27 The first rule of human club is you don’t explicitly discuss the rules of human club.Silas Dogood
23 Go down deep enough into anything and you will find mathematics. Dean Schlicter
18 Good things come to those who steal them.-- Magnificent Sasquatch
24 We are built to be effective animals, not happy ones. -Robert Wright, The Moral Animal
19 Being right too soon is socially unacceptable. Robert A. Heinlein
14 “Anything you can do, I can do meta” -Rudolf Carnap
17 Mind is a machine for jumping to conclusions—Daniel Kahneman
26 If Tetris has taught me anything it’s that errors pile up and accomplishments disappear.-Unknown
26 A faith which cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets.Arthur C. Clarke
26 Nobody panics when things go “according to plan”… even if the plan is horrifying. The Joker
23 “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” --Friedrich Nietzsche
14 I intend to live forever or die trying—Groucho Marx
26 We shall not grow wiser before we learn that much that we have done was very foolish.-- F. A. Hayek
20 I honestly don’t know. Let’s see what happens. -- Hans. The Troll Hunter
16 Luck is opportunity plus preparation plus luck.--Jane Espenson
20 The singularity is my retirement plan. -- tocomment, in a Hacker News post
19 Better our hypotheses die for our errors than ourselves. -- Karl Popper
11 Whenever you can, count.--Sir Francis Galton
22 Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.-Charles Babbage
19 In general, we are least aware of what our minds do best. — Marvin Minsky
20 It is easier to love humanity than to love one’s neighbor.--Eric Hoffer, on Near/Far
15 Keep your solutions close, and your problems closer.afoolswisdom
18 “If God gives you lemons, you find a new God.”—Powerthirst 2: Re-Domination
17 Truth comes out of error more easily than out of confusion.-Francis Bacon
23 Opening your eyes doesn’t make a bad picture worse. http://onefte.com/2011/07/17/bully-for-you/
19 Know the hair you have to get the hair you want. -Pantene Pro-V hair care bottle
16 The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it. -Alan Saporta
16 Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse. — Wolof proverb
20 Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -- Voltaire
18 Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.--Bruce Lee
9 AI makes philosophy honest -- Dan Dennet
18 God created the Earth, but the Dutch created the Netherlands. -- Dutch proverb
20 “Just because you no longer believe a lie, does not mean you now know the truth.”Mark Atwood
14 History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme. -Mark Twain
17 The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. -- Plutarch
18 The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself. -Nassim Nicholas Taleb
16 Like all dreamers, I confused disenchantment with truth. (Jean-Paul Sartre)
20 Man, I’m amazing! I’m a machine that turns FOOD into IDEAS! -- T-Rex, Dinosaur Comics #539
17 What good fortune for those in power that people do not think. Adolph Hitler
14 We see things not as they are but as we are, …- G. T. W. Patrick
19 You don’t have to believe everything you think. Seen on bumper sticker, via ^zhurnaly.
19 The truth is out there, but so are the lies.-Dana Scully, The X-Files, Season 1, Episode 17
13 Would anybody tell me if I was getting stupider? Mike Patton
13 We’re even wrong about which mistakes we’re making.-Carl Winfeld
13 If I close my mind in fear, please pry it open. -- Metallica
This post made me consider using spaced repetition software.
Note: Penn’s last name is “Jillette” (not “Jellete”).
The one from Carnap (“Anything you can do, I can do meta”) might not really be from Carnap. Can anyone find a source besides this one, which only gets it back to 1991?
I think it’s Daniel Dennet (said to Hofstadter).
But it really should be from Carnap.