If you're going to do something wrong, do it right.
If something is worth doing at all, half-assing it makes no sense.
Wisdom Wall
Favourite Quotes
A digital version of the wisdom wall. Films, books, TV, games, and odd scraps of useful thinking. Not everything here is profound. Some of it just works.
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You've been a cop for a long time, what you don't know is how much you know, without knowing you know it. Take a guess and run with it.
Jane's response to Lisbon saying 'I don't know.' I like the idea that experience builds knowledge you don't necessarily know how to articulate. Sometimes intuition is just expertise working faster than conscious reasoning.
Sacrifice is an act that imperils one person, trust can jeopardize the world.
Sacrifice puts the person making it at risk. Trust can put everyone at risk. I like the distinction because trust is usually treated as automatically virtuous, while this frames it as something with consequences beyond the person choosing to give it.
Your father lived by a philosophy... a principle really. He believed that if you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things. That's what's at stake here. Not choice. Responsibility.
I mostly like this because they went through an entire detour just to avoid saying the actual line. - With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
A lot of modern work feels disconnected from anything meaningful.
Your boos mean nothing to me. I've seen what makes you cheer.
Popularity has very little to do with quality. Crowds validate nonsense constantly.
No matter how bad things look, they look better awake than asleep.
I’d rather deal with reality directly than hide from it.
For certain you have to be lost to find the places that can’t be found. Else wise, everyone would know where it was.
I like the idea that some things can only be found indirectly. Straight lines don't discover much.
Sometimes science is more art than science morty. A lot of people don't get that.
Most real discovery is messy. Trial, error, intuition, pattern recognition... then people pretend it was obvious afterwards.
Following's not really my style.
Blind conformity has never made much sense to me.
Sometimes the best gift, is never seeing you again
Most of the time I just don't have the time or energy for other people's nonsense.
I sometimes envy the blissful ignorance of those less well-versed in their... shit.
The more patterns you notice, the harder it becomes to ignore how broken things are.
When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
The best systems usually operate quietly in the background.
Eh. I don't need a Robin.
This was in response to Rick saying they could be like Batman and Robin. A lot of the time the people who want to be incharge. They just want the status, all while not being all that capable of their position.
It's funny. When you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags.
People often ignore reality to protect the version they want to believe.
A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.
Individuals can think clearly. Crowds usually can't.
I don't want to live in a world where someone else makes the world a better place better than we do.
A perfect example of ego disguising itself as idealism.
I don't hate people. I just feel better when they're not around.
Most of the time solitude is just quieter and simpler.
No, Venti is Twenty. Large is Large, in fact Tall is Large and Grande is spannish for Large. Venti is the only one that doesn't mean Large, it's also the only one that's Italian... Congratulations, you’re stupid in three languages.
Dry sarcasm always lands better than loud comedy.
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
Stupidly clever wordplay always sticks in my head.
Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying.
People normalize dysfunction surprisingly quickly.
If you're good at something, never do it for free.
Competence has value whether people like admitting it or not.
Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming.
Most bad ideas look impressive right before they collapse.
A woman who can be bought isn't worth having.
Transactional loyalty usually collapses the moment a better offer appears.
Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
Intelligence without restraint creates a lot of modern problems.
Men don't follow titles. They follow courage.
People respect conviction more than status.
The Almighty tells me he can get me out of this mess, but he's pretty sure you're fucked.
Completely ridiculous delivery... which is why it works.
Bio-digital jazz, man.
I like when technology is framed as something experimental and weird instead of sterile.
Now that's a big door.
Dry understatement always lands better than forced reactions. Feels like a joke about overcompensation.
The concept of waiting bewilders me. There are always deadlines. There are always ticking clocks.
Most people waste huge portions of their life waiting to feel ready.
This whole time I thought changing the world was something you did... an act you performed, something you fought for. I don't know if that's true anymore.
Changing systems is usually messier and less heroic than people imagine.
People who get violent... they usually have something to hide.
Aggression is often insecurity wearing armour.
Everybody knows the dice are loaded.
A lot of systems are biased long before people enter them.
So be it.
Sometimes the only real option is accepting the consequences and moving forward anyway.
You are technically correct. The best kind of correct.
One of the funniest observations about systems and rules.
I've done everything the Bible says... even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!
Quietly savage writing.
I don't mind if you pee in the shower, but only if you're taking a shower.
Very grounded Simpsons energy.
Oh, everything looks bad if you remember it.
Disturbingly applicable to politics.
Am I so out of touch? No. It's the children who are wrong.
Became a meme for a reason.
You'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel.
Pure nonsensical Simpsons dialogue, well it's completely used out of context.
Alcohol... the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.
Probably the most quoted Homer line ever.
I don't know why? It's a perfectly cromulent word.
One of the greatest fake-word jokes ever created.
Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand.
Accidentally insightful.
We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell them stories that don't go anywhere... like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville.
Peak rambling old-man energy.
You can't keep the democrats out of the White House forever. And when they get in, I'm back on the streets... with all my criminal buddies.
Ridiculous bipartisan slander. Very Simpsons.
The problem with trying to be the bad guy... is that there’s always someone worse.
No matter how ruthless someone thinks they are, there’s usually a deeper level below them.
FBI and the army before that, they helped keep me on the straight and narrow path. But now... without that it's all... I'm drowning in deep water and I don't know whether I'm swimming through the surface or the bottom.
Good description of losing all sense of orientation mentally while still trying to function.
Feelings are overrated.
Emotion without control tends to distort decision-making.
I’m good at what I do. That’s all.
Competence matters more than performance.
I was built for this.
Some people function better in chaos than normality.
No one ever listens to me. I talk and talk and no one listens.
Dry pessimism becomes weirdly relatable after enough repetition.
Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without.
A lot of freedom exists inside invisible constraints.
The price of certainty is the loss of curiosity.
People stop learning the moment they become emotionally attached to certainty.
The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.
Perfectionism wastes more time than imperfection.
You can never know everything, but you can know enough.
Useful understanding matters more than total understanding.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
Reality does not care about preference.
Hell is other people.
Other people complicate almost everything.
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
Collective stupidity spreads accountability thin.
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
Authenticity itself can become resistance.
Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself.
Attachment creates vulnerability whether people admit it or not.
Closure is a made-up thing by Steven Spielberg to sell movie tickets.
Most things end messily rather than cleanly.
You know how they say it's been a pleasure? It hasn't.
Dry hostility is usually funnier than fake politeness.
You know, this is why I don't like talking to people. They always want something.
A lot of social interaction feels transactional.
You'd be surprised what people tell you when they think you're dead.
People reveal themselves once consequences disappear.
The danger in believing things is that you stop thinking.
Certainty tends to shut curiosity off.
Nothing's ever anybody's fault.
Modern culture is very good at diffusing accountability.
I don't break the rules... I bend them a little.
Most systems require flexibility to function properly.
You know what I like about being dead? The freedom.
POI constantly blurred the line between freedom and isolation.
I learned everyone is alone. But if someone can make you feel less alone... maybe that's enough.
Connection matters more when isolation feels like the default state.
People choose the paths that grant them the greatest rewards for the least amount of effort.
Most behaviour becomes predictable once incentives are visible.
I think that if you do something wrong long enough, you forget what right is supposed to look like.
Repeated behaviour eventually rewires normality.
The problem with humanity is that we value sentiment over survival.
Cold logic often clashes with emotional morality.
You can never know anyone completely. That's a good thing.
People are more layered than the roles they perform.
People don't really change. They just find something to hide behind.
A lot of personality is just managed presentation.
Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.
Trying to function in broken systems eventually affects people.
Most people don't really want the truth. They want reassurance.
People often prefer comfort over accuracy.
You can’t build a good system on top of a broken foundation.
Most large problems start much lower down than people admit.
Most people live their whole lives inside a story someone else wrote for them.
A lot of people inherit their worldview instead of building one.
It's amazing what people can justify when they're afraid.
Fear changes moral boundaries very quickly.
Everybody wants to be understood. Nobody wants to be analyzed.
People like insight right up until it becomes accurate.
Most people don't listen. They wait for their turn to talk.
A lot of conversation is performance instead of exchange.
You know what the real problem is? People.
Most systems work better in theory than in practice because people are involved.
Everybody wants a happy ending. Right up until the moment they have to sacrifice something for it.
People like outcomes more than process.
The scary thing about people is that they can get used to anything.
Humans normalize dysfunction incredibly fast.
You spend enough time pretending and eventually you forget which parts were real.
Maintaining personas long enough starts distorting identity.
Most people don't want freedom. They want structure.
Freedom comes with responsibility most people avoid.
You can tell what people are afraid of by what they try hardest to control.
Control is often disguised insecurity.
The more complicated people make things, the easier they are to manipulate.
Complexity creates cover for bad behaviour.
Once you see the pattern, you can't unsee it.
Pattern recognition permanently changes perception.
None of you seem to understand... I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me.
I like the complete reversal of power in this line. The fear changes direction instantly.
If less is more, just think how much more 'more' will be.
A wonderfully dry observation about excess.
No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Preparation matters, but adaptation wins.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
A perfect description of committed alternate realities.
You're confusing where you are with who you are.
Circumstances don't define character.
It's not a bug. It's a feature.
A tongue-in-cheek observation about how people justify flawed systems.
The waiting is the hardest part.
Professionals know that restraint is often harder than action.
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
Some systems can only be beaten by refusing their rules.
The code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.
Rules exist to serve reality, not the other way around.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.
An oddly sensible observation about impossible ideas.
Every solution breeds new problems.
Systems thinking means accepting trade-offs.