“Artspeak is an arcane writing style that can result in a vocabulary of obscurities... Today, some of the more spectacular examples are in artist's statements.” WritingTodayArtistResultsStyleExampleStatementsVocabularySpectacularObscurityWriting StyleArcane Author:Robert Genn
“I like to summarize what I regard as the pedestal-smashing messages of Darwin's revolution in the following statement, which might be chanted several times a day, like a Hare Krishna mantra, to encourage penetration into the soul: Humans are not the end result of predictable evolutionary progress, but rather a fortuitous cosmic afterthought, a tiny little twig on the enormously arborescent bush of life, which, if replanted from seed, would almost surely not grow this twig again, or perhaps any twig with any property that we would care to call consciousness.” IfsHumansLittlesSoulEndsMightCareGrowsResultsConsciousnessProgressRevolutionMessagesRegardPropertyFollowingSeedsTinyStatementsCosmicPredictableKrishnaMantrasPedestalEnd ResultsHaresSmashingTwigsPenetrationAfterthoughtFortuitousHare Krishna Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“Poets, if they're genuine, must keep repeating "I don't know." Each poem marks an effort to answer this statement, but as soon as the final period hits the page, the poet begins to hesitate, starts to realize that this particular answer was pure makeshift that's absolutely inadequate to boot. So the poets keep on trying, and sooner or later the consecutive results of their self-dissatisfaction are clipped together with a giant paperclip by literary historians and called their oeuvre.” IfsKnowsTryingSelfTogetherRealizingAnswersResultsEffortParticularPoetPeriodsPurePagesMarkFinalsGenuineStatementsGiantsHistorianBootsSooner Or LaterInadequateDissatisfactionConsecutive Author:Wislawa Szymborska
“The French philosopher Pierre-Hyacinthe Azaïs (1766-1845) formalized the statement that good and evil fortune are exactly balanced in that they produce for each person an equivalent result.” PersonsEvilResultsProduceFortunePhilosopherStatementsGood And EvilBalancedFrench Philosopher Author:Richard Arnold Epstein
“But if you should take the bond of goodwill out of the universe no house or city could stand, nor would even the tillage of the fields abide. If that statement is not clear, then you may understand how great is the power of friendship and of concord from a consideration of the results of enmity and disagreement. For what house is so strong, or what state so enduring that it cannot be utterly overthrown by animosities and division?” IfsShouldMayStatesUniverseHouseStrongResultsCitiesClearFieldsEndureStatementsConsiderationDivisionDisagreementGoodwillEnmityAnimosity Book:Cicero in twenty-nine volumes Source: Cicero in twenty-nine volumes
“Too much knowledge could be a bad thing. I was lead to the Szemerédi theorem by proving a result, about squares, that Euler had already proven, and I relied on an "obvious" fact, about arithmetical progressions, that was unproved at the time. But that lead me to try and prove that formerly unproved statement- about arithmetical progressions-and that ultimately lead to the Szemerédi Theorem.” TryingFactsScienceResultsToo MuchProveMathematicsObviousStatementsBad ThingsSquaresProvenProgressionLeading MeTheoremsEuler Author:Endre Szemeredi
“When a scientist doesn't know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty - some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain.” KnowsStillsProblemBodyCertainOrderFoundAnswersRoomsResultsDoubtProgressIgnoranceDegreesScientistImportanceStatementsIgnorantUncertaintyUncertainParamountUnsureHunchesScientific KnowledgeUncertainty And Doubt Author:Richard P. Feynman
“I hear people say they're going to write. I ask, when? They give me vague statements. Indefinite plans get dubious results. When we're concrete about our writing time, it alleviates that thin constant feeling of anxiety that writers have - we're barbecuing hot dogs, riding a bike, sailing out in the bay, shopping for shoes, even helping a sick friend, but somewhere nervously at the periphery of our perception we know we belong somewhere else - at our desk!” PeopleKnowsGivingWritingHelpingFeelingsAsksResultsPlansDogAnxietyPerceptionSickGive MeHotConstantShoesStatementsShoppingConcreteRidingDesksVagueSailingBikeSomewhere ElseDubiousAlleviateHot DogPeriphery Book:Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer’s Craft Source: Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer’s Craft