“You spend a whole day thinking about what you're writing, that's writing.”
“What is the work writers do? Not the writing, not the thing that lives on--the work, the inward conversation that must be had again and again before even a modicum of meaning arrives on the page.”
Source: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
“Interviewing one of Uber’s earliest executives, who demonstrated the company’s route-finding algorithms with the unbridled enthusiasm of a small child at Christmas, I couldn’t help but think what this company had really innovated was not some brilliant new solution to the traveling salesman problem, but the establishment of a new, lower norm of employee treatment. Success, growth, profit came from taking what might at one time have been decent, stable jobs and rebranding them as side hustles. The brilliant business idea was persuading people to expect less.”
Source: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
“It turns out that the people who like their jobs the most are also the ones who
are doing the best work, making the greatest impact, and changing the most.
Changing the way they see the world, sure, but also changing the world. By
challenging the status quo, a cadre of heretics is discovering that one person,
just one, can make a huge difference.”
“If you are an employee, you will always be stuck trading your time for money.”
Source: How To Not Be Broke: Stop Working Just to Pay Bills
“You finally complete your first paper, but even its appearance in a “highly respected” and thick biweekly journal sandwiched between two other equally dull and opaque articles fails to alleviate your growing boredom and disillusionment with a career in physics, a career that once seemed to promise excitement, glamor and importance. Are you going to spend your whole life in a mad, cutthroat ego trip just to see your name in print every six months? Or is the real pleasure in seeing your name referenced in someone else’s useless article?”
Source: Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives
“What time are you going to work?" Manuel says.
"Now, brother."
"Well, fuck."
"No other way." Lalo shrugs.
"That's life," Manuel agrees.
"That's life."
"Life."
"Fucking life!”
Source: Six Kinds of Sky: A Collection of Short Fiction
“See, a gun changes everything. It's not just about the impact, it's about what it signals." Griffin ran his fingers over the barrel, then spun around to point the gun at Robin.
Robin jumped back. "Jesus-"
"Scary, isn't it? Think, why is this more frightening than a knife?" Griffin did not move his arm. "It says I'm willing to kill you, and all I have to do is pull this trigger. I can kill at a distance, without effort. A gun takes all the hard work out of murder and makes it elegant. It shrinks the distance between resolve and action, you see?”
Source: Babel
“How many company quality improvement programmes and business consulting hours could be saved if people would only sing again?!”
Source: GOATONOMICS - HOW OUR FAITH DETERMINES OUR SHARE OF THE ROAST
“Nothing reveals more clearly the degree to which employed professionals are alienated from their subjects than does the sharply contrasting behavior of the hobbyists or “buffs” in their fields. When hobbyists encounter one another at a social gathering, before long you will find them talking eagerly about the content of their subject of common interest, showing an excitement, enthusiasm, wonder and curiosity that is reminiscent of beginning professional students. This rarely happens when professionals talk casually with their colleagues. Unlike the amateurs, the professionals don’t talk much about the work itself: they often appear detached from their subject, as if they don’t derive much satisfaction from it. Yes, they “talk shop,” but their focus is so far from the content of the work itself that you would have a hard time if you had to guess what kind of “shop” they work in. A commercial bank? A junior high school? A government agency? A university department? Casual conversation among professionals tends to focus on the actions and personalities of employers and powerful figures within their fields—the standard gossip topics of the powerless. Their gossip is by no means idle, however, for the politics are central to their work as professionals.”
Source: Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives