“Imagine filling a college with the first 1,000 students to get perfect SATs. Whatever the racial composition of that class would be, the notion seems absurd because we know that college in America is supposed to be about creating citizens and leaders in a diverse nation.” KnowsFirstsSeemsWould BeAmericaNationsPerfectLeaderClassImagineStudentsCollegeCitizensCreatingNotionAbsurdSupposed To BeSatDiverseCompositionFilling Author:Eric Liu
“The first human-to-computer uploads of 2100 will prove that a perfect simulation is the thing being simulated - that a silicon soul doesn't need a physical body to inhabit. So eventually everybody who ever lived will be resurrected inside a living machine indistinguishable from God. Isn't it amazing what you can do with unlimited hard-disk space?” NeedsFirstsHumansSoulHardBodyCan DoSpacePerfectProveComputerMachinesUnlimitedSiliconPhysical BodySimulationDisk Author:Frank J. Tipler
“Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost. The idea is hard to accept. We all have emotional equity in our first draft; we can't believe that it wasn't born perfect. But the odds are close to 100 percent that it wasn't.” WritingFirstsBelieveWellsIdeasHardGamesLostBornPerfectAcceptingEmotionalPercentEssenceOddsEquityRewritingWriting Well Author:William Zinsser
“I mean, the first “Back to the Future” is kind of a perfect script, I think. In terms of handling time travel the best, it depends on your definition. To me, that means it effectively uses it in the story.” ThinkingFirstsKindMeanStoriesUseTermPerfectDependsScriptsDefinitionsTime Travel Author:Rian Johnson
“In the first place I remark that no human law is perfect in its construction or execution.” FirstsHumansLawPerfectConstructionExecutionRemarks Author:Thomas Jordan Jarvis
“This was one of those perfect New England days in late summer where the spirit of autumn takes a first stealing flight, like a spy, through the ripening country-side, and, with feigned sympathy for those who droop with August heat, puts her cool cloak of bracing air about leaf and flower and human shoulders.” FirstsHumansCountrySpiritSidesPerfectAirFlowerLateSummerEnglandStealingShouldersFlightHeatAutumnLeafsSpyAugustCloaksNew EnglandSummertimeSummer DaysRipeningSummer SunSummer GardenSummer InspirationalLeaves And FlowersLate Summer Author:Sarah Orne Jewett
“Not far from here, by a white sun, behind a green star, lived the Steelypips, illustrious, industrious, and they hadn't a care: no spats in their vats, no rules, no schools, no gloom, no evil influence of the moon, no trouble from matter or antimatter - for they had a machine, a dream of a machine, with springs and gears and perfect in every respect. And they lived with it, and on it, and under it, and inside it, for it was all they had - first they saved up all their atoms, then they put them all together, and if one didn't fit, why they chipped at it a bit, and everything was just fine.” IfsFirstsMatterDreamCareSchoolTogetherEvilStarsBitsWhitePerfectBehindsSunTroubleInfluenceFineFitMoonSpringHumorousMachinesGreenSavedAtomsGearsGloomIndustriousSpatsVatAntimatter Book:The Cyberiad Source: The Cyberiad
“I think I realized very early on that you can spend a lot of time constructing a really perfect scene in final draft and just end up throwing it away because you didn't figure out that mathematics of the story first.” ThinkingFirstsEndsStoriesPerfectFiguresSceneMathematicsFinalsI RealizedThrowing Author:Brit Marling
“In Africa a thing is true at first light and a lie by noon and you have no more respect for it than for the lovely, perfect wood-fringed lake you see across the sun-baked salt plain. You have walked across that plain in the morning and you know that no such lake is there. But now it is there absolutely true, beautiful and believable.” KnowsFirstsLightBeautifulLyingPerfectMorningSunWoodsLovelyLakesSaltNoonBelievable Author:Ernest Hemingway
“Songs start with my bringing in the basic riffs for what you might call a verse and a chorus, an A and a B part...whatever. And sometimes a C and even a D. That's kind of the easy, or at least easier part. The hard part is finding that special, perfect way to order things - how many times to do A before B and back and how the second verse differs from the first. That's all we got.” WayFirstsKindSometimesHardMightSongOrderEasyPerfectSpecialEasierFindingsVersesChorus Author:David First
“It was in France that I first learned about food. And that even the selection of a perfect pear, a ripe piece of Brie, the freshest butter, the highest quality cream were as important as how the dish you were going to be served was actually cooked.” FirstsImportantPerfectQualityPiecesHighestFranceDishesCreamSelectionRipePearsBrie Author:Robert Carrier
“When I'm writing for a book, it's much more reflective process. I have certain things that may not translate well to the stage, but, when they're on the page, people can really get into them. My first two books were aiming to be funnier, but the third was more about deep exploration. Things about being a parent and growing older that I thought would be perfect for a book.” PeopleWritingFirstsWellsMayTwoBookWould BeCertainProcessParentPerfectGrowingStagePagesThirdsExplorationTranslateGrowing OldBeing A ParentGrowing Older Author:Paul Reiser