Two Thoughts (11 - 17 June)

Sunday 11 June

Two thoughts from Martin Gurri:

“Under the perilous conditions of the Fifth Wave, governments cling more than they rule.”

“The public has options: that is the single defining feature of the Fifth Wave.”

Monday 12 June

Two thoughts from John Arden:

“Effort shifts your attention from perception to action. Making a focused effort activates your brain to establish new synaptic connections.”

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules."

Tuesday 13 June

Two thoughts from Colson Whitehead:

"It is failure that guides evolution; perfection provides no incentive for improvement, and nothing is perfect."

“New York City does not hold our former selves against us. Perhaps we can extend the same courtesy.”

Wednesday 14 June

Two thoughts from Jane Jacobs:

“The trouble with paternalists is that they want to make impossibly profound changes, and they choose impossibly superficial means for doing so.”

“We expect too much of new buildings, and too little of ourselves.”

Thursday 15 June

Two thoughts from Ernst Mayr:

"Our understanding of the world is achieved more effectively by conceptual improvements than by discovery of new facts."

“No one could have predicted that a defenseless, slow-moving biped should become the pinnacle of Creation.”

Friday 16 June

Two thoughts from Adam Weishaupt:

“Nothing is more important than who controls the signs. To change the world, it is necessary to change the signs that are used to condition people.”

“Don’t read about history. Make it!”

Saturday 17 June

Two thoughts from H.R. McMaster:

"People fight today for the same fundamental reasons the Greek historian Thucydides identified nearly 2,500 years ago: fear, honor, and interest."

"We confuse activity with progress, and that's always dangerous, especially in war."

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