#des

I suppose that one reason I have always detested religion is its sly tendency to insinuate the idea that the universe is designed with 'you' in mind or, even worse, that there is a divine plan into which one fits whether one knows it or not. This kind of modesty is too arrogant for me. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#arrogance #atheism #modesty #religion #solipsism

Lunatics are similar to designated hitters. Often an entire family is crazy, but since an entire family can't go into the hospital, one person is designated as crazy and goes inside. Then, depending on how the rest of the family is feeling that person is kept inside or snatched out, to prove something about the family's mental health. ↗

— Susanna Kaysen

#family #mental-health #design

I'm very comfortable with the nature of life and death, and that we come to an end. What's most difficult to imagine is that those dreams and early yearnings and desires of childhood and adolescence will also disappear. But who knows? Maybe you become part of the eternal whatever. ↗

— Hugh Hefner

#also #become #childhood #come #comfortable

Chapter Six: I asked my interior designer to give me something appropriate for defiling virgins. ↗

— Nicki Elson

#sex #design

I had an interview once with some German journalist—some horrible, ugly woman. It was in the early days after the communists—maybe a week after—and she wore a yellow sweater that was kind of see-through. She had huge tits and a huge black bra, and she said to me, ‘It’s impolite; remove your glasses.’ I said, ‘Do I ask you to remove your bra? ↗

— Karl Lagerfeld

#chanel #communists #designer #fashion #glasses

In their simplicity and directness [neon signage is] a kind of urban iconography with which we can identify on many levels. — Rudi Stern ↗

— Philip Di Lemme

#neon #urban #design

To have a style is to be stuck. ↗

— Jonah Lehrer

#design

It might be argued that genuine spontaneity is not really possible or desirable so long as printed scores of great works exist. All modern musicians are, for better or worse, prisoners of Gutenberg. ↗

— Donal Henahan

#better #desirable #exist #genuine #great

When I started writing I wanted the best tools. I skipped right over chisels on rocks, stylus on wet clay plates, quills and fountain pens, even mechanical pencils, and went straight to one of the first popular spin-offs of the aerospace program: the ballpoint pen. They were developed for comber navigators in the war because fountain pens would squirt all over your leather bomber jacket at altitude. (I have a cherished example of the next generation ballpoint, a pressurized Space Pen cleverly designed to work in weightlessness, given to me by Spider Robinson. At least, I cherish it when I can find it. It is also cleverly designed to seek out the lowest point of your desk, roll off, then find the lowest point on the floor, under a heavy piece of furniture. That's because it is cylindrical and lacks a pocket clip to keep it from rolling. In space, I presume it would float out of your pocket and find a forgotten corner of your spacecraft to hide in. NASA spent $3 million developing it. Good job, guys. I'm sure it's around here somewhere.) ↗

— John Varley

#nasa #pens #tools #writing #design

If there is shit all around me, how can I eat my ice cream? ↗

— S. Balaram

#social-responsibility #design