Kyle

“Human life is under the absolute dominion of two mighty principles, fear and hope, and that any one who can make these serve his ends may be sure of rapid fortune.”
― Lucian of Samosata

“People think of education as something that they can finish. And what’s more, when they finish, it’s a rite of passage. You’re finished with school. You’re no more a child, and therefore anything that reminds you of school - reading books, having ideas, asking questions - that’s kid’s stuff. Now you’re an adult, you don’t do that sort of thing any more.

You have everybody looking forward to no longer learning, and you make them ashamed afterward of going back to learning. If you have a system of education using computers, then anyone, any age, can learn by himself, can continue to be interested. If you enjoy learning, there’s no reason why you should stop at a given age. People don’t stop things they enjoy doing just because they reach a certain age.

What’s exciting is the actual process of broadening yourself, of knowing there’s now a little extra facet of the universe you know about and can think about and can understand. It seems to me that when it’s time to die, there would be a certain pleasure in thinking that you had utilized your life well, learned as much as you could, gathered in as much as possible of the universe, and enjoyed it. There’s only this one universe and only this one lifetime to try to grasp it. And while it is inconceivable that anyone can grasp more than a tiny portion of it, at least you can do that much. What a tragedy just to pass through and get nothing out of it.”
― Isaac Asimov

“Salt was so important that Roman soldiers were given extra money to purchase it. This was referred to as a “salarium,” from which our word “salary” derives. Soldiers who performed their duties particularly well were said to be worth their salt!”
― Joe Schwarcz, Is That a Fact?: Frauds, Quacks, and the Real Science of Everyday Life

“If a beautiful sunflower is somehow supposed to be evidence of the Christian god, then what is a parasitic worm that eats children’s eyeballs evidence of?”
― Guy P. Harrison, 50 Simple Questions for Every Christian