Foster

Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age : “Now nanotechnology had made nearly anything possible, and so the cultural role in deciding what should be done with it had become far more important than imagining what could be done with it.”

Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s what’s required to overcome it. Just so, optimism isn’t about ignoring problems, it’s about choosing to believe that they’re soluble.

I’ve never been much of a note-taker because memory is such a useful filter for interestingness. When I have an idea, I wait to see if it can survive in the wilderness of my mind. I only act on those that prove themselves via intellectual natural selection.

John McPhee, Draft No4 : "If something interests you, it goes in—if not, it stays out. That’s a crude way to assess things, but it’s all you’ve got. Forget market research. Never market-research your writing. Write on subjects in which you have enough interest on your own to see you through all the stops, starts, hesitations, and other impediments ... See more