“I personally have more faith than the average writer in people's willingness to be complicated, and so I'm thrilled by what's happened. I'm elated at audiences' willingness to handle complexity. In some sense, I feel like my belief in what people are capable of is being validated.” PeopleFeelsBeliefAudienceHappenedCapableAverageComplicatedHandleComplexityWillingness Author:Michael Loceff
“Each of the major sciences has contributed an essential ingredient in our long retreat from an initial belief in our own cosmic importance. Astronomy defined our home as a small planet tucked away in one corner of an average galaxy among millions; biology took away our status as paragons created in the image of God; geology gave us the immensity of time and taught us how little of it our own species has occupied.” LittlesLongHomeBeliefMillionsTaughtPlanetsEssentialsMajorsImportanceSpeciesAverageCornersAstronomyDefinedBiologyIngredientsCosmicRetreatGalaxyInitialsTaught UsGeologyGod ImageImmensity Book:Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History Source: Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History
“orthodoxy is a fixed habit of mind. The average man and woman hug their orthodoxies and spit their venom on those that outrage them.” MenMindBeliefHabitMen And WomenAverageFixedConformityHugOrthodoxyOutrageSpitAverage ManVenomHabits Of Mind Book:Black Oxen Source: Black Oxen
“I would be the last to deny that the greatest scientific pioneers belonged to an aristocracy of the spirit and were exceptionally intelligent, something that we as modest investigators will never attain, no matter how much we exert ourselves. Nevertheless ... I continue to believe that there is always room for anyone with average intelligence ... to utilize his energy and ... any man could, if he were so inclined, be the sculptor of his own brain, and that even the least gifted may, like the poorest land that has been well-cultivated and fertilized, produce an abundant harvest.” IfsMenBelieveWellsMayHas BeensMatterWould BeLastsSpiritBeliefEnergyRoomsBrainLandProduceIntelligentAverageIntelligenceDenyNeverthelessGiftedModestHarvestExceptionalAttainmentPioneersPoorestAristocracySculptorsExertionInvestigators Author:Santiago Ramon y Cajal
“It is the long term investor who will in practice come in for the most criticism. For it is the essence of his behaviour that he should be eccentric, unconventional and rash in the eyes of the average opinion. If he is successful, that will only confirm the general belief in his rashness; and if in the short run he is unsuccessful, which is very likely, he will not receive much mercy. Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally.” IfsThinkingShouldLongEyeRunningBeliefTermOpinionTeachPracticeSuccessfulFailingSucceedCriticismMercyEssenceIndependentInvestingAverageReputationLong TermInvestorsBehaviourWorldlyEccentricUnsuccessfulUnconventionalIndependent ThinkingRashnessWorldly Wisdom Author:John Maynard Keynes
“P. G. Wodehouse... used, when in town, to solve the problem of the long walk to the post-office by the simple expedient of tossing his letters out of his window: his belief that the average human, finding a stamped and addressed envelope on the pavement, would naturally pop it into the nearest pillar-box was never once, in decades, shown to be unfounded.” HumansLongProblemUsedBeliefSimpleWalksOfficeFindingsWindowLettersTownsAverageBoxesPopsSolveDecadesPostsPillarsEnvelopesPavementPost OfficeLong Walks Author:Stephen Fry
“To the best of my knowledge and belief, the average American newspaper, even of the so-called better sort, is not only quite as bad as Upton Sinclair says it is, but 10 times worse, 10 times as ignorant, 10 times as unfair and tyrannical, 10 times as complaisant and pusillanimous, and 10 times as devious, hypocritical, disingenuous, deceitful, pharisaical, Pecksniffian, fraudulent, slippery, unscrupulous, perfidious, lewd and dishonest.” BeliefAverageNewspapersIgnorantUnfairSlipperyHypocriticalDeceitfulDeviousDisingenuous Author:H. L. Mencken