What some hear

I pity (and fear) those who hear change and think death.

Almost

Being right is almost all that matters.

You have to love the truth (Crawford)

Getting things right requires triangulating with other people. Psychologists therefore would do well to ask whether "metacognition" (thinking critically about your own thinking) is at bottom a social phenomenon. It typically happens in conversation—not idle chitchat, but the kind that aims to get to the bottom of things. I call this an "art" because it requires both tact and doggedness. And I call it a moral accomplishment because to be good at this kind of conversation you have to love the truth more than you love your own current state of understanding. This is, of course, an unusual priority to have, which may help to account for the rarity of real mastery in any pursuit.

Matthew B. Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming An Individual In An Age Of Distraction

On truth & beauty (Skutch)

Much as I have loved and sought truth, I have loved and sought beauty even more—not only sensuous beauty, but likewise moral and spiritual beauty, the beauty that ancient philosophers equated with the good. Beauty is always, in a sense, truth, although if incautious we may draw false inferences from it; but truth, in a world so full of harsh and ugly facts as this, is often the antithesis of beauty. Although one may contend that to know the truth, even about ugly and evil things, is in itself good and valuable, such knowledge can hardly avoid being tainted by its loathsome object. But to learn the truth about beautiful things, by long and patient effort to disclose their carefully guarded secrets, is one of the most satisfying of pursuits. ... Certainly, for our survival, we need to know about many things that are dry, unpleasant, or revolting. But so many brilliant minds, supported by wealthy institutions, are dedicated to these investigations, that it can do no great harm if a few "world losers and world forsakers" devote themselves to the pursuit of the beautiful truths that enrich us spiritually even if they contribute nothing to our survival in a competitive world.

Alexander F. Skutch, The Imperative Call: A Naturalist's Quest in Temperate and Tropical America

Human nature

What we fail to conquer we seek to destroy.

Better

Better idle than idiot.

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Aesthetic feeling (Skutch)

And who or what should appreciate all the lovely and amiable things that this world contains if not ourselves, who, of all animals, seem most highly endowed with aesthetic feeling and understanding? One might contend that our most important role on this planet, our raison d'être, is to complete or fulfill the world process by grateful, cherishing enjoyment of everything good and lovely that it has produced.

Alexander F. Skutch, The Imperative Call: A Naturalist's Quest in Temperate and Tropical America

Circumstance

Much that we call cause is merely circumstance.

What isn't there

What isn't there shapes our appreciation of what is.

Plausible

We must find those
whose words seem plausible.

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I'm certain

Certainty is riddled with ambiguity.

Chicken & squash grill

On force

Force is always the right choice to assert a right that's being denied, and never a valid option to defend an opinion that's being discounted.

Irrational

We are irrational about being rational.

Echoes

Echoes lack intent, and so lack intent to mock, and yet, feeling mocked, we are mocked.

Toward individuality

In repeating and misstating what others have said,
in repeating and altering what others have done,
we deviate toward individuality—only toward.

On poetry

The best poetry is an echo of being.

Wandering (Seth)

Alone, I wander where I choose,
And soon there will not be a me to lose.

Vikram Seth, from "Which Way?"

Love or knowledge

Support love or support knowledge; the one occludes the other.

Competence

Confidence is the bait,
competence is the hook.

Life

Life is what we do
while we await execution.

Your book

It's okay if your book
is more fantasy than memory,
so long as you acknowledge it.

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On Christianity

Christianity lacks creativity.
It is flat in a fractal world.

Weakness & power

Meet weakness with dismay,
greet power with disdain.

All I ever wanted

All I ever wanted
was all I ever wanted.

On religion

Without inequality, religion disappears.

On tradition

People say they long for tradition.
What they mean is coherence.

What you say

When someone cares what you have to say
they will pay attention to what you say.
Otherwise it doesn't matter what you say
or how you say it.

On poetry

Minor poetry speaks to its age.
Great poetry speaks to the ages.

The knowledge of death (Becker)

The knowledge of death is reflective and conceptual, and animals are spared it. They live and they disappear with the same thoughtlessness: a few minutes of fear, a few seconds of anguish, and it is over. But to live a whole lifetime with the fate of death haunting one's dreams and even the most sun-filled days—that's something else.

Ernest Becker

You can't know

If you can't know everything, you can't know anything entirely.

You don't need to.