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Ask HN: What is a quote that permanently changed the way you think?

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Re: Ask HN: What is a quote that permanently changed the way you think?

#21

Post by majiy »

"Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you'd be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become."

Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut, found on zenpencils.com

A second one from the webcomic "Order of the Stick":

"You're not a type! You're a person, a person who does stuff! If you want to be different, do different stuff! Look at me. I used to be a town guard, and then I decided I wanted to be a cleric. Did everyone I know tell me, "Oh, I don't really think you're the type to be a cleric"? Yes! Did I listen to them? No! If anyone tells you that you can't be better if you want to be, you punch them in their stupid judgy face! And you know what the best part is? When you make a change, everyone who meets you from that point on? Only knows the new version of you. And that's nice."

And a last one:

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

Benjamin Franklin, found in Civilization IV

Re: Ask HN: What is a quote that permanently changed the way you think?

#28

Post by k__ »

"Success has two letters: DO!"

Many people think success is luck and luck is on some kind of lottery-level probability.

While luck is a huge part of success, consistently doing things towards it increases the probability drastically.

You probably don't make 10million over night by a random pick, but you can certainly make 100k in a year by making a few regular educated guesses over the course of a year and realizing your ideas.

Re: Ask HN: What is a quote that permanently changed the way you think?

#29

Post by peacechance »

"Imagine a multidimensional spider's web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image." –Alan Watts

Re: Ask HN: What is a quote that permanently changed the way you think?

#30

Post by jokoon »

Perfection is attained not when there's nothing to add, but nothing to remove.

Antoine Saint Exupéry

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.

John gall

If software developers followed those mantra, instead of pursuing complexity like it's a good thing, software would be much much better and would be easier to maintain.

Everyday I am searching for code and solutions, and everyday I swear and curse at complexity. It doesn't look like it's taught at school.

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