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Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?

#201

Post by varrock »

nikivi wrote: post #50

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again. - Steve Jobs And in similar vain: Are you moving one step in 20 directions or 20 steps in one direction? I colle…

You have a great website. I was especially curious about your minimalism section and how you list all of your possessions. May I ask; do you truly not own any bedding? I'm similar to you such that I find extreme value in being able to pack up my things and go somewhere else with relative ease.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?

#202

Post by nikivi »

varrock wrote: post #201
nikivi wrote: post #50

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again. - Steve Jobs And in similar vain: Are you moving one step in 20 directions or 20 steps in one direction? I colle…

You have a great website. I was especially curious about your minimalism section and how you list all of your possessions. May I ask; do you truly not own any bedding? I'm similar to you such that I find extreme value in being able to pack up my things and go somewhere else with relative ease.

I do own bedding, just didn't think to mention it. Same for chair or a table. It mostly lists things I would take with me if I were to move to a new place.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?

#204

Post by mdtancsa »

I think a lot about this quote as of late No one is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart: for his purity, by definition, is unassailable. James Baldwin We seem to be in a period of history with many pure hearts

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?

#205

Post by contingencies »

gitgud wrote: post #132
l0b0 wrote: post #95

"A witty saying proves nothing." -- Voltaire The world is far more complex than any human could possibly fathom, and reducing complex subjects to witticisms usually works against those subjects, whether intentional or not.

First I've heard of an anti-motto

Here's another:

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims. - Aristotle

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?

#209

Post by cm2187 »

My favourite moto is very hard to translate from French. It’s a quote from Chateaubriand. “Il faut etre econome de son mepris tant les necessiteux sont nombreux”. Clumsy translation that misses the elegance of the formulation: “one must use disdain sparingly given how numerous are the needy”.

Also eternal truths passed on to me by my various managers:

“The more you climb in the hierarchy, the more you realise it is the same idiots at every level”

“The optimal number of people in an organisation is 3. As soon as you add one more you lose efficiency. So passed 100,000...”

“Assumptions are the mother of all fuckups”

Re: Ask HN: What is your favorite motto?

#210

Post by newswasboring »

1. Make a plan, stick to the plan -- my colleague at my first internship

2. Mr. Winston, everyone knows what is in room 101--1984, orwell

These are the two I can remember right now. Was remined of the second one because it was referenced in cory doctorow's new book.

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