Richard Florida:

We have come to an economic juncture where we must re-examine even our most cherished beliefs.

Mark Foulon:

We have tried incremental steps and they have proven insufficient.

Viktor Chernomyrdin:

We wanted the best, but it turned out as always.

Peter Singer:

Human lives are, in general, much less good than we think they are. We spend most of our lives with unfulfilled desires, and the occasional satisfactions that are all most of us can achieve are insufficient to outweigh these prolonged negative states. If we think that this is a tolerable state of affairs it is because we are victims of the illusion of pollyannaism. This illusion may have evolved because it helped our ancestors survive, but it is an illusion nonetheless. If we could see our lives objectively, we would see that they are not something we should inflict on anyone.

Can non-existent people have a right to come into existence?

Nicholas Bakalar:

People start out at age 18 feeling pretty good about themselves, and then, apparently, life begins to throw curve balls. But by the time they are 85, they are even more satisfied with themselves than they were at 18.

Mike Berners-Lee:

Although it takes a lot of energy to make paper, a good read will pin you down for hours, distracting you from all the more carbon-intensive pastimes you might otherwise be indulging in.

Getting cremated is likely to be less than a 10,000th of your life's carbon footprint. On this one occasion you can treat yourself to whatever form of disposal you prefer, safe in the knowledge that you have already done the most carbon-friendly thing possible.

Randy Palumbo:

The greenest thing you can do in your kitchen is not tear it up and put in a new one.

Angus McCullough:

The only way to end your game is to lose.

Sarah Silverman:

You're very free if you don't love money.

David Youngberg and Robin Hanson:

Compared with relatively modern societies, nomadic foragers had similar levels of food and disease, and less murder and suicide. They did not fight over land or resources, and they enforced justice directly and personally. They avoided class divisions like rich vs. poor, shared food more, and their leaders had no formal powers.

Polygamy, premarital sex, and extramarital sex were all widespread, divorce was easy, and men and women were generally considered equal. Kids were taught to be more generous, trusting, and honest, and were never punished physically.

Tyler Cowen:

My question is: what is the wife maximizing?

Andy Connelly:

It might not be as good as your mum's but it will taste great and everyone will want a slice.

Randall Munroe:

What if I want something more?

Joe Nocera:

They just want theirs.

Alan Kay:

We can't learn to see until we realize we are blind.

Richard Holbrooke:

Only with hindsight can one look back and see that the smartest course may not have been the right one.

Louis Kahn:

I like English history. I have volumes of it, but I never read anything but the first volume. Even at that, I only read the first three or four chapters. My purpose is to read Volume Zero, which has not been written.