facem/dregem

"When I was a kid, I thought a lot about what made me different from the other kids. I don’t think I was smarter than them and I certainly wasn’t more talented. And I definitely can’t claim I was a harder worker — I’ve never worked particularly hard, I’ve always just tried doing things I find fun. Instead, what I concluded was that I was more curious — but not because I had been born that way. If you watch little kids, they are intensely curious, always exploring and trying to figure out how things work. The problem is that school drives all that curiosity out. Instead of letting you explore things for yourself, it tells you that you have to read these particular books and answer these particular questions. And if you try to do something else instead, you’ll get in trouble. Very few people’s curiosity can survive that. But, due to some accident, mine did. I kept being curious and just followed my curiosity."

"Being given the illusion of free choice when all of the choices are meaningless or terrible has a name, and they used to think it caused schizophrenia."

"De cele mai multe ori când auzim sau citim despre ceva nou, ne mulţumim doar să îl comparăm cu ideile noastre. Dacă coincid, îl acceptăm şi îl catalogăm ca fiind corect. Dacă e diferit, hotărâm că e incorect. În fiecare din cazuri nu învăţăm nimic."

"Inabilitatea de a confrunta adevărul despre noi înşine este o trăsătură cât se poate de întâlnită în cultura intelectuală, cât şi în viaţa personală, având implicaţii îngrijorătoare."

"The people who are in control, who are harming others — those people will construct justifications for themselves. They may do it in sophisticated ways or nonsophisticated ways, but they’re going to do it. That much is in human nature."

"De la toate turmele tale, una sau două căni de lapte,
Din toate grânele tale, o bucată de pâine,
În tot palatul tău, numai jumătate de pat:
Poţi folosi mai mult? Iar restul, chiar îţi aparţine?"