"I've always found that the root of a computer problem is human frailty"

Ian McDonald Literature See all quotes by Ian McDonald →

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“Nationalism, then Islamism, both twentieth-century inventions, destroyed the Greek civilization in Egypt that had endured for three thousand years.”

“He has no belief—faith is beneath his dignity—but he enjoys the designed madness of religion.”

“A chilly piety leaked into the air.”

“Ayşe Erkoç learned long ago that the secret of doing anything illicit in Istanbul is to do it in full public gaze in the clear light of day. No one ever questions the legitimacy of the blatant.”

“Legends should stay legends; otherwise they just become history, when the natural course of things is the other way around, from history to legend.”

“It was fate, and being angry at fate was as futile as being angry at the weather.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Fruit trees in this world are ancient and exhausted sticks coming out of poor soil; the people of the village are worn down to their skulls, caricatures of some ultimate grotesque typology of basic hu…"

— Fredric Jameson

Literature1934–2024

#Human Nature

"In the midst of possible world war, of wholesale destruction, I find my only question this: are there enough people now who believe? Is there time enough left for the wise to act? It is a contest betw…"

— Pearl S. Buck

Literature1892–1973

#Human Nature

"To be a mother is to nourish and protect true humanity and bring it to development. But again, this necessitates that she possess true humanity herself, and that she is clear as to what it means; othe…"

— Edith Stein

Philosophy1891–1942

#Human Nature

"Scientology is bullshit! Man, I was there the night L. Ron Hubbard invented it, for Christ's sakes! … We were sitting around one night... who else was there? Alfred Bester, and Cyril Kornbluth, and Le…"

— Harlan Ellison

Literature1934–2018

#money