Category Archives: Quotes of Note

Throughout Guns, Germs, and Steel author Jared Diamond makes the point over and over that we shouldn’t judge “primitive” people as being unintelligent simply because they don’t possess the same knowledge database that we have.  In the example below Diamond … Continue reading →

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at … Continue reading →

“And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are. All we can say is that this is a good deed, because it helps someone or that’s an evil one … Continue reading →

“When it [Rachel’s get-together with her family] was finally over I was so happy to get back to my own home-sweet-home [a hotel that she owned] that I had a double vodka tonic, kicked off my shoes, turned up the … Continue reading →

“They would ask me what actors I saw in the roles.  I would tell them, and they’d say ‘Oh that’s interesting.’ And that would be the end of it.” – Elmore Leonard on his experience with movie makers planning to … Continue reading →

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!” but ‘That’s funny . . .’ ” – Isaac Asimov “Great big serious novels always get awards. If it’s a battle between a … Continue reading →