What I didn't understand was that the value of some new acquisition wasn't the difference between its retail price and what I paid for it. It was the value I derived from it. Stuff is an extremely illiquid asset. Unless you have some plan for selling that valuable thing you got so cheaply, what difference does it make what it's "worth?" The only way you're ever going to extract any value from it is to use it. And if you don't have any immediate use for it, you probably never will. -- Paul Graham

In terms of energy, it's better to make a wrong choice than none at all. -- George Leonard, Mastery.

A charlatan makes obscure what is clear; a thinker makes clear what is obscure. -- Hugh Kingsmill

La tactique, c'est ce que vous faites quand il y a quelque chose à faire; la stratégie, c'est ce que vous faites quand il n'y a rien à faire. -- Xavier Tartacover

The best is the enemy of the good. -- Voltaire

A hacker on a roll may be able to produce–in a period of a few months–something that a small development group (say, 7-8 people) would have a hard time getting together over a year. IBM used to report that certain programmers might be as much as 100 times as productive as other workers, or more. -- Peter Seebach

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. –Confucius

Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~Theodore N. Vail

The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it. ~Henry Ford

An unexamined life is not worth living. –Socrates