#y

In conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they weigh you down, or they bind you fast. ↗

— Niccolò Machiavelli

#politics #strategy #warfare #science

Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism--and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#science #science

It is interesting to note how many of the great scientific discoveries begin as myths. ↗

— Rollo May

#myth #science #science

It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull. ↗

— Arthur Conan Doyle

#morbid #moriarty #science #sherlock #skull

Today the network of relationships linking the human race to itself and to the rest of the biosphere is so complex that all aspects affect all others to an extraordinary degree. Someone should be studying the whole system, however crudely that has to be done, because no gluing together of partial studies of a complex nonlinear system can give a good idea of the behavior of the whole. ↗

— Murray Gell-Mann

#science #systems #science

I was drawn to horses as if they were magnets. It was in my blood. I must have inherited from my grandfather a genetic proclivity toward the equine species. Perhaps there's a quirk in the DNA that makes horse people different from everyone else, that instantly divides humanity into those who love horses and the others, who simply don't know. ↗

— Allan J. Hamilton

#differences #dna #genetics #horses #humanity

Is there a problem, Ms. Parker? Something you want to say to me?" Reaching for his tie, he began to loosen it, unraveling it with his fingers, angry eyes still locked on mine. "I'm not sure I like being your pet. Or science project, I don't know which." "You have a smart mouth." "You make smart observances." "You're going to make this invitation difficult, aren't you?" "If you're dishonest with me, yes." "You'll regret it if you don't accept." "Is that a threat?" "That's a promise. ↗

— Rachael Wade

#drama #love #love-hate-relationship #preservation #rachael-wade

...science fiction is something that could happen - but usually you wouldn't want it to. Fantasy is something that couldn't happen - though often you only wish that it could. ↗

— Arthur C. Clarke

#science-fiction #science

Hardly a pure science, history is closer to animal husbandry than it is to mathematics in that it involves selective breeding. The principal difference between the husbandryman and the historian is that the former breeds sheep or cows or such and the latter breeds (assumed) facts. The husbandryman uses his skills to enrich the future, the historian uses his to enrich the past. Both are usually up to their ankles in bullshit. ↗

— Tom Robbins

#science

If you are searching for sacred knowledge and not just a palliative for your fears, then you will train yourself to be a good skeptic. ↗

— Ann Druyan

#positivism #sagan #science #skepticism #theology