David Brin Quotes
The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.
Quotes to Explore
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I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.
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I've never said I was a chef - I think I make great food. I will never open a restaurant to do, like, tasting courses.
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People know things and have a remarkable capacity to act in their individual immediate interests all the time.
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The government would be able to go to court with respect to newspaper articles, broadcast pieces and the like that they thought were bad or harmful or even against the government and try to block them.
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With all the great products that are apparently out there that are undetectable, for me to take something like that... when people take things that now aren't even being tested for, does it make any sense?
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'Material' is meant to be a fun, lighthearted song about the tiny bit of materialism that's in all of us. The message is meant to translate the notion that you don't need luxury items to feel special; you already are special.
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I was the girl that didn't go to prom or my graduation because I was too busy working with producers and making music.
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Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
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If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.
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I think I have music in me! I had a scholarship to study singing at one point, and I've never really done anything about it. I've done some music on stage, but it's been a long time. It would be kind of fun.
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Funding for the original manned Voyager Mars Program was scratched in 1968, before humans had gotten out of Low Earth Orbit. Mid-'60s plans for a Venus fly-by with astronauts actually flying by it met the same fate.
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I would love to be able to see as much of the world as possible, and volunteering, doing things in another community, living with a host family, are really effective ways to learn about cultures different from your own. And also to not feel lazy.
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Some of the best logos are the simplest. One of the oldest is the mark used by the Bass brewery: a red triangle. Target has made a red circle with a red dot in the middle seem the very essence of affordable, hip practicality.
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Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
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Hard power makes sense under some circumstances. But there's not a universal solution to global problems.
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The bigger we get, I think the more it's changing things, which is great, but we didn't set out to do that. We just wanted to be as big as we possibly could be.
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I was raised a Catholic and when you're raised a Catholic they don't teach you to think for yourself. You're taught not to think too deeply about things.
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I hate the fact that people think 'compromise' is a dirty word.
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The most foreign fighters in Iraq are wearing British and American uniforms. The level of self-delusion is bordering frankly on the racist. The vast majority of the people of Iraq are against the occupation of Iraq by the American and British forces.
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Long before history began we men have got together apart from the women and done things. We had time.
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Self-absorption is always a temptation to young people, and if their religion is of a sort to add to this self-absorption, I feel that it is a serious mistake. If I had my way, the whole subject of feelings and emotions in the religious life would be absolutely ignored. Feelings there will be, doubtless, but they must not be in the least depended on, nor in any sense taken as the test or gauge of one's religion. They ought to be left out of the calculation entirely. You may feel good or you may feel bad, but neither the good feeling nor the bad feeling affects the real thing.
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The more we give, the more we receive. It's important to give back, because the seeds you plant today, you will harvest tomorrow.
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The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.
