Brian Hare · 384 pages
Rating: (1.9K votes)
“Consider Steve Jobs. One biographer said, “Was he smart? No, not exceptionally. Instead he was a genius.” Jobs dropped out of college, went to find himself in India, and at one point was forced out of Apple, the company he co-founded, when sales were slow in 1985. Few would have predicted the level of his success by his death. “Think different” became the slogan of a multinational monolith that fused art and technology under his guidance. Jobs may have been average or unexceptional in many domains, but his vision and ability to think differently made him a genius.”
“It's always a little nerve-wracking when everybody agrees.”
“Openness (artistic, curious, imaginative, with a wide range of interests) Conscientiousness (efficient, organized, responsible, ambitious, able to delay gratification) Extroversion (assertive, energetic, enthusiastic, finds the company of others stimulating) Agreeableness (forgiving, generous, kind, considerate toward others) Neuroticism (anxious, tense, sensitive to criticism, moody)”
“One of the most famous dogs in Chinese history was from the eighth century. The emperor was playing chess with a prince and losing badly. His favorite concubine, legendary for her beauty, was watching discreetly in the distance with her little dog called Wo. Seeing her master losing face, she let Wo run onto the chessboard and knock over all the pieces. The emperor was delighted.”
“Chimpanzees are so skilled at working together to hunt down other chimpanzees that lethal intergroup aggression, or murder, is among the leading causes of mortality in wild chimpanzees.”
“I do not believe that grief is ever so great that it can not be contained within.”
“And then I wondered, does cussing count in the general scheme of things if you only cuss in your head and not out loud?”
“You fed it.' The badger sighed. 'Sometimes I think you'll feed anything.”
“Unrequited love is all right in books and things, but in real life, it completely sucks”
“Who knew? I had no idea that someone could be such a thorn in your foot during a death march and still be irresistibly attractive in some magical, undeniable way."
"So is this what people call sweet nothings? Because somehow, I expected it to be a little more...complementary.”
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