Language and Thought

Discipline is what the factory and the office and the store share with the prison and the school and the mental hospital.

There was a time in our own past when the “work ethic” would have been incomprehensible, and perhaps Weber was on to something when he tied its appearance to a religion, Calvinism, which if it emerged today instead of four centuries ago would immediately and appropriately be labeled a cult.

"Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer" is actually an excellent and life-affirming attitude

This viewpoint may be overly ambitious, and may even — horrors! -- be somewhat wrong, but I have observed that many good ideas start out by claiming too much territory for themselves, and eventually, when they have received their fair share of attention and respect, the air clears and it emerges that, though still grand, they are not quite so grand... See more

Believing in magic can be an irresponsible thing to do if it leads you to disengage from your material responsibilities– but if you’re a responsible person trying to get meaningful work done, and there’s a real possibility that something wonderful could happen and make everything tremendously better, it’s worth making a little space for, isn’t it?

Self-promotion makes me uncomfortable.

Maybe because I (read: most women) am not really great at it?

Or because I never want to sound sales-y.

Or because with software, it's always easier to justify tossing in one more feature than exposing our work to criticism.

it seems that I’ll probably succeed financially a little less