Quotes, both real life and from fiction that I find amusing, profound, or just noteworthy. Pre-emptive apologies for incorrect sourcing.
If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it. - Skippy's List #87
I like to think about the first law of thermodynamics, that no energy in the universe is created and... none is destroyed. That means that every bit of energy inside us, every particle will go on to be a part of something else. Maybe live as a dragonfish, a microbe, maybe burn in a supernova ten billion years from now. And every part of us now was once a part of some other thing - a moon, a storm cloud, a mammoth. A monkey. Thousands and thousands of other beautiful things that were just as terrified to die as we are. We gave them new life. A good one, I hope. - Jemma Simmons
[Dr. Stephen Franklin] "It's all so brief, isn't it? Typical human lifespan is almost a hundred years, but it's barely a second compared to what's out there. It wouldn't be so bad if life didn't take so long to figure out. Seems you just start to get it right and then .. it's over."
[Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova] "Doesn't matter. If we lived two hundred years, we'd still be human. We'd still make the same mistakes."
[Dr. Stephen Franklin] "You're a pessimist."
[Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova] "I am Russian, Doctor. We understand these things." - Dr. Stephen Franklin & Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova
The universe is driven by the complex interaction between three ingredients: matter, energy, and enlightened self-interest. - G'Kar
Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective. - Ambassador Delenn
If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. Too often we assume that the light on the wall is God. But the light is not the goal of the search; it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing it! Similarly, someone who does not search, who does not bring a lantern with him, sees nothing. What we perceive as God, is the byproduct of our search for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light, pure and unblemished, not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe. God looks astonishingly like we do! Or we turn to look at our shadow, and assume that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose; which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty - and in all its flaws. And in so doing better understand the world around us. - G'kar, Babylon 5
"You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
[Ford Prefect:] "Why, what did she tell you?"
[Arthur:] "I don't know, I didn't listen."
May gods stand between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk. - Ivanova
Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. - Terry Pratchett
There's no point in being a grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes - The Fourth Doctor
Hero? No! We're pirates! I love heroes, but I don't wanna be one! Do you know what heroes are? Say there is a chunk of meat. Pirates will have a banquet and eat it, but heroes will share it with other people. I want all the meat! - Monkey D. Luffy
People like being lied to. They don't like finding out they've been lied to. - Gregory House
Villains who twirl their moustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged - Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard
If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. - Sirius Black
The bitch of it is that you probably did the right thing. But you did it in the wrong way. In the inconvenient way. Now you have to pay the penalty for that. I know it stinks, but that's the way it is. - President Susanna Luchenko to Sheridan
You're scared because if you try and fail, you only have you to blame. Life is scary. Get out there and start doing the work. - Scrubs
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven,” - Satan. Paradise Lost Book I
Sometimes the best way to solve your own problems is to help someone else. - Iroh
Pride is not the antidote to shame, but it's source. Humility is the only cure to shame. - Iroh
Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end. - Spock
HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE. - Death, The Hogfather, Discworld
Only when a mosquito lands on his testicles does a man realize that problems may be resolved without the use of violence.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. - Hari Seldon, Foundation
Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. - Londo
Your story may not have such a happy beginning but that does not make you who you are, it is the rest of it – who you choose to be - Soothsayer
Your mind is like this water, my friend. When it gets agitated, it becomes difficult to see. But if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear. – Master Oogway
Once I realized the problem was not you but within me. I found inner peace and was able to harness the flow of the universe. – Master Shifu
There is always something more to learn. Even for a master. – Master Oogway
If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be better than what you are. – Master Shifu
Failure to plan on your part doesn't constitute an emergency in mine
Failure to plan is planning to fail
Ignore the propaganda. Focus on what you see. - Kosh
The avalanche has started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote. -Kosh
There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people. - Admiral Adama
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all - Noam Chomsky
Those who would give up a little freedom to get a little security shall soon have neither - Benjamin Franklin
It is possible to make no mistakes and lose. That is not failure; that is life. - Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard
With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably. - Judge Aaron Satie
Punishment is not the answer. Punishment is easy. It’s lazy. Redemption is hard. Redemption makes you work. - Skulduggery Pleasant, The Dying of the Light
A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. - Agent K
1500 years ago everybody knew earth was the center of the Galaxy, 500 years ago everybody knew earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago you knew humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow. - Agent K
I have seen what power does, and I have seen what power costs. The one is never equal to the other. - G'Kar
But we can’t be free, until we learn to laugh at ourselves. Once you look in the mirror and see just how foolish we can be, laughter is inevitable. And from laughter comes wisdom. - G'Kar
No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power tyrants and dictators cannot stand. - G'Kar
“If each man picks an evil and attacks it relentlessly, how long can evil persist?” That was an easy one. Forever. More evil gets done in the name of righteousness than any other way. Few villains think they are villains. -The Black Company
The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice. The language is not Narn, or Human, or Centauri, or Gaim or Minbari. It speaks in the language of hope; It speaks in the language of trust; It speaks in the language of strength, and the language of compassion. It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul. But always, it is the same voice. It is the voice of our ancestors, speaking through us, And the voice of our inheritors, waiting to be born. It is the small, still voice that says: We are one. No matter the blood; No matter the skin; No matter the world; No matter the star; We are one. No matter the pain; No matter the darkness; No matter the loss; No matter the fear; We are one. Here, gathered together in common cause. we agree to recognise this singular truth, and this singular rule: That we must be kind to one another, because each voice enriches us and ennobles us, and each voice lost diminishes us. We are the voice of the Universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light the way to a better future. We are one. - G'Kar
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" but "That's funny... - Isaac Asimov
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge - Isaac Asimov
All models are wrong but some are useful - George Box
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows - Epictetus (c.55-c.135)
No. We have to stay here [outer space]. And there's a simple reason why. Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics, and you'll get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-Tzu, and Einstein, and Morobuto, and Buddy Holly, and Aristophanes…[and] all of this…all of this…was for nothing. Unless we go to the stars. - Commander Sinclair, Babylon 5
Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill. - Gildor
I’ve been thinking. When life gives you lemons? Don’t make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give me lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s going to burn your house down! With the lemons! I’m going to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down! Cave Johnson - Portal 2
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. What? Look, somebody's got to have some damn perspective around here! Boom. Sooner or later. BOOM! - Susan Ivanova
I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Dune
I know, I know. It's a Russian thing. When we're about to do something stupid, we like to catalog the full extent of our stupidity for future reference. - Ivanova
If you like nerds, raise your hand. If you don’t, raise your standards. - Violet Haberdasher
Never apologize for being nerdy, because unnerdy people never apologize for being assholes. - John Barrowman
“Star Trek?” I asked her. “Really?”
“What?” she demanded, bending unnaturally black eyebrows together.
“There are two kinds of people in the universe, Molly,” I said. “Star Trek fans and Star Wars fans. This is shocking.”
She sniffed. “This is the post-nerd-closet world, Harry. It’s okay to like both.”
“Blasphemy and lies,” I said. - Jim Butcher, Ghost Story
Why is being a nerd bad? Saying I notice you’re a nerd is like saying, ‘Hey, I notice that you’d rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you’d rather be thoughtful than be vapid, that you believe that there are things that matter more than the arrest record of Lindsey Lohan. Why is that? - John Green
Charm is the ability to insult people without offending them; nerdiness the reverse. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
That’s the wonderful thing with nerds: they’re enthusiasts. Not having a life means you get to love things with a passion and nobody bothers you about it. - John Burnside, The Glister
My best definition of a nerd: someone who asks you to explain an aphorism - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
So you’re a little weird? Work it! A little different? OWN it! Better to be a nerd than one of the herd! - Mandy Hale
No one messes around with a nerd’s computer and escapes unscathed. - E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
A true nerd knows the difference between 2-D and 3-D, and chooses 2-D every frickin’ time! - Ryohgo Narita, Durarara!! Saika Arc, Vol. 1
I will take a serious approach to a subject usually treated lightly, which is a nerdy thing to do. - Benjamin Nugent, American Nerd: The Story of My People
'Nerd': One whose unbridled passion for something, or things, defines who they are as a person, without fear of other people's judgment - Zachary Levi
I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke! - Meredith Grey
Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code
I’m not anti-social; I’m just not user friendly.
Passwords are like underwear. You shouldn’t leave them out where people can see them. You should change them regularly. And you shouldn’t loan them out to strangers
A Life? Cool! Where can I download one of those?
In ancient Greece, Socrates (the famous philosopher) was visited by an acquaintance of his. Eager to share some juicy gossip, the man asked if Socrates would like to know the story he’d just heard about a friend of theirs.
Socrates replied that before the man spoke, he needed to pass the “Triple-Filter” test.
The first filter, he explained, is truth. “Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to say is true?” The man shook his head. “No, I actually just heard about it, and …” Socrates cut him off. “You don’t know for certain that it is true, then.
Is what you want to say something good or kind?” Again, the man shook his head. “No! Actually, just the opposite. You see …” Socrates lifted his hand to stop the man speaking. “So you are not certain that what you want to say is true, and it isn’t good or kind.
One filter still remains, though, so you may yet still tell me that is usefulness or necessary. Is this information useful or necessary to me?” A little defeated, the man replied, “No, not really.”
“Well, then,” Socrates said, turning on his heel. “If what you want to say is neither true, nor good or kind, nor useful or necessary, please don’t say anything at all.”
- Jennifer Cook O’Toole, The Asperkid’s (Secret) Book of Social Rules