Shamol

This section is an ever-increasing collection of the quotes I use/have used in my signature. I change it every week or so.

"In the most obvious sense, the Elements is a textbook. It proceeds from the simple to the complex. It is beautifully organized. It is very clear, succinct as a knife blade. And like every good textbook, it is incomprehensible. Euclidean geometry calls for a collaborative effort between the initiated and the unenlightened, the teacher droning, the student drowsing, until mastery of the material builds slowly in the warm space between droning and drowsing." -David Berlinski, in Infinite Ascent: A Short History of Mathematics

"[Hitler] has grasped the falsity of the hedonistic attitude to life. Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all "progressive" thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security, and avoidance of pain. In such a view of life there is no room, for instance, for patriotism and the military virtues. Hitler, because in his own joyless mind he feels it with exceptional strength, knows that human beings don't only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene, birth-control and, in general, common sense; they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flag and loyalty-parades ... Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a grudging way, have said to people "I offer you a good time," Hitler has said to them "I offer you struggle, danger and death," and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet." -George Orwell, in his review of Mein Kampf

"Batman is an easy target for anger. He can seem cold, uncaring, and always assumes the worst. And he's so stubborn. He doesn't listen. He has a knack for looking into your soul and knowing exactly what you are capable of. And then he exploits it– all while planning a contingency against it- "just in case." Basically, he's a nightmare. But he's also the guy you want on your side when it all goes sideways. Not just because he has a plan for everything, but because if he's on your side…then you know you're on the side of the right. He's got an unimpeachable moral code that he won't betray. Ever. Batman isn't just the hero Gotham needs… He's the whole damn world's safety net." -Nightwing, in Injustice: Gods Among Us, Year 3, Issue 21

"In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country--hold up your head! You have nothing to be ashamed of." -Mark Twain, in Mark Twain's Fables of Man

"Philosophy begins when one learns to doubt- particularly to doubt one's cherished beliefs, one's dogmas, and one's axioms. Who knows how these cherished beliefs became certainties with us, and whether some secret wish did not furtively beget them, clothing desire in the dress of thought? There is no real philosophy until the mind turns around and examines itself. Gnothi seauton, said Socrates: Know thyself." -Will Durant, in The Story of Philosophy

"Perseverence in science needs to be tempered by flexibility." -Haig Kazazian, in Mobile DNA: Finding Treasures in Junk

I love reading and writing about science. Also cheese, YouTube, and procrastinating in general.