Quotes

Tortoise: No. The System crashed.
Achlles: What does that mean?
Tortoise: It means that you and I, Achilles, were suddenly and instantaneously transported to Tumbolia.
Achilles: To where?
Tortoise: Tumbolia: the land of dead hiccups and extinguished light bulbs. It’s a sort of waiting room, where dormant software waits for its host hardware to come back up. No telling how long the System was down, and we were in Tumbolia. It could have been moments, hours, days-even years.

It should be mentioned that the students are encouraged to abstain from making a judgment in any case of doubt. It may also demonstrate that not voting can have a positive meaning.

Who are you, or what?
I am a Traveler.
Traveler? What is your destination?
Destination?
Yes. - What place are you trying to reach?
Place? No. There’s no specific place I wish to go.
What is the purpose of your journey?
Curiosity.

Finishing the hat
How you have to finish the hat
How you watch the rest of the world
From a window
While you finish the hat
[..]
Mapping out the sky
Finishing a hat…
Starting on a hat..
Finishing a hat…
Look, I made a hat…
Where there never was a hat!

This is the creature that was not to be.
They knew it not; but all the same
They loved its gait, its poise, its name,
And in its eyes the light of sympathy.

Ne pleure pas, Alfred ! J’ai besoin de tout mon courage pour mourir à vingt ans !

Surgery was your mission, she said.
Missions are stupid, Tereza. I have no mission. No one has.
And it’s a terrific relief to realize you’re free, free of all missions.

Noi non crediamo nel diritto divino delle maggioranze, ma nemmeno crediamo che le minoranze rappresentino, sempre, la ragione ed il progresso. Galileo aveva ragione contro tutti i suoi contemporanei; ma vi sono oggi ancora alcuni che sostengono che la terra è piatta e che il sole le gira intorno, e nessuno vorrà dire che hanno ragione perché son diventati minoranza. Del resto, se è vero che i rivoluzionari sono sempre una minoranza, sono anche sempre in minoranza gli sfruttatori ed i birri.

Si nous grimpions toujours en silence, au milieu de la nuit et vêtus d’habits sombres, ce n’était pas pour défier l’ordre. C’était même précisément par amour de l’ordre (celui des bâtisseurs). Nous avions compris que les cathédrales étaient des équations. Nous admirions la science architecturale, car elle use des mêmes lois que celles qui régissent la course des planètes. Et nous nous sentions si bien au sommet que souvent, c’était l’aube qui nous en chassait.

I never developed a methodology for attacks, Michele. I just learned that if you stare at things long enough, eventually they fall apart.

“What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?” CEO Rex Tillerson said at the oil giant’s annual meeting Wednesday.

If we talk about those issues of privacy, please bear in mind this is a first world problem. The southern hemisphere doesn’t suffer from it, they suffer from not getting any fucking attention. So,… just bear that in mind. It is a luxury problem, that needs to be discussed obviously. Second, forget crypto. Crypto is elitist. I’m not saying don’t do it at all; it’s obviously something one has to pursue, but if you’re trying to find a solution for the situation now, it’s not going to be crypto, because no-one can fucking use it. Then, to all these engineers of the internet, all the sysadmins with so much power, lots of knowledge, but so little education. Yet so much responsibility. Please, read a book. Read a motherfucking book.

He was living a double life: an open an public life visible to all who had any need to know, full of conventional truth and conventional lies, exactly like the lives of his friends and acquaintances, and another which followed a secret course. […] Judging others by himself, he refused to believe the evidence of his eyes, and therefore he imagined that all men led their real and meaningful lives under a veil of mystery and under a cover of darkness. Every man’s intimate existence revolved around mysterious secrets, and it was perhaps partly for this reason that all civilized men were so nervously anxious to protect their privacy.

What is an anarchist? One who, choosing, accepts the responsibility of choice.

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni.

It’s the privileged feature of radical circumstances that a rigorous application of logic leads to revolution. It’s enough just to say what is before our eyes and not to shrink from the conclusions.

And now that the police has come, it is time for me to go.

We are not enough for ourselves: we have more tears than our own sufferings claim, more capacity for joy than our existence can justify.

And that unless above himself he can
Erect himself, how poor a thing is man.

Much has been said about Robert, and more will be added. Young men will adopt his gait. Young girls will wear white dresses and mourn his curls. He will be condemned and adored. His excesses damned or romanticized. In the end, truth will be found in his work, the corporeal body of the artist. It will not fall away. Man cannot judge it. For art sings of God, and ultimately belongs to him.

We have a responsibility towards ideas, Michele.

Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.

nicole: Pierre, tu m’aimes?
pierre: Oui.
nicole: Pourquoi tu ne me le dis jamais?
pierre: [silence]
nicole: Parce que ce n’est pas ton genre, de dire ces choses-là? C’est pour ça?
pierre: Oui, c’est ça exactement.

I find it quite in vain to wait until I have leisure so I have resolved that I will leave all other things undone and set out for Ashley taking with me papers long enough to enable me to forget this world and all its troubles and if possible its multitudinous Charlatans - every thing in short but the Enchantress of Number.

For the sons of Reason see
That, ere fate consume the Pole,
The false Tyrant’s cheek shall be
Bloodless as his coward soul.

[…] and oceans and lakes
deserts and volcanoes
the two of us and the rest of you
and all the animals

But the Poet, when he must, can stand fearless before God.
His candor is his shield.
He needs no weapons and nor wiles,
As long as God’s absence comes to his aid.

Many persons who are not conversant with mathematical studies imagine that because the business of [Babbage’s Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, the nature of the processes must consequently be arithmetical and numerical, rather than algebraic and analytical. This is an error. The engine can arrange and combine its numerical quantities exactly as if they were letters or any other general symbols; and in fact it might bring out its results in algebraic notation, were provisions made accordingly.

Volevo dire, in nome di Dio, se desiderate tanto la libertà e la felicità, non riuscite a capire che non si trovano in nessun luogo fuori di voi? Dite che le avete, e le avrete! Comportatevi come se vi appartenessero, e così sarà! Richard, che cosa c’è di tanto maledettamente difficile in questo?

Non c’era tempo di pensare perché dovessi vincere, e con quale urgenza, e quali nuovi piani fossero nati in quella testa eternamente in moto per le sue combinazioni.

The first thing is to raise hell.

Nothing ever comes together.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
[…]
Beyond ego, beyond personality, beyond awareness, he moved.

Mi rifiuto categoricamente di dirlo, signori! Vedete, non è che non possa dirlo, che me ne manchi il coraggio, né che possa essere messo in pericolo dal momento che è una faccenda di nessun conto, una sciocchezza, ma non lo dirò perché è un questione di principio: è la mia vita privata e io non ammetto alcuna intrusione nella mia vita privata. Questo è il mio principio.

And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear ’t that th’ opposèd may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear but few thy voice.
Take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee.

«Penso che tutti al mondo debbano amare la vita sopra ogni cosa.»
«Amare la vita più che il significato di essa?»
«Proprio così, amarla a dispetto della logica, come hai detto tu, necessariamente a dispetto della logica; soltanto allora ne coglierai anche il significato. È da un pezzo che ci penso ormai. Metà del tuo lavoro l’hai concluso, Ivan, l’hai portato a termine: tu ami la vita. Adesso devi cercare di portare a termine la seconda metà e sarai salvo.»

Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer.

Den Dank, Dame, begehr ich nicht.

Je rêve d’un jour où l’égoïsme ne régnera plus dans les sciences, où on s’associera pour étudier, au lieu d’envoyer aux académiciens des plis cachetés, on s’empressera de publier ses moindres observations pour peu qu’elles soient nouvelles, et on ajoutera “Je ne sais pas le reste”.

Statutum est omnibus hominibus semel mori.

«Das ist nicht Mathematik. Das ist Theologie.» […] I have convinced myself that even theology has its merits.

It is not enough for a wise man to study nature and truth; he should dare state truth for the benefit of the few who are willing and able to think. As for the rest, who are voluntarily slaves of prejudice, they can no more attain truth, than frogs can fly.

“A cat may look at a king”, said Alice.

[…] You see, what… what looks to you like a big load of trashy old noise, it is in fact the brilliant music of a genius; […] and, that music is so powerful that is quite beyond my control; and, … when I am in the grips of it I don’t feel pleasure, I don’t feel pain. Do you understand what I am talking about? Have you ever felt like that? When you… when you just couldn’t feel anything, and you don’t want to either.

… o era stato forse egli creato
per esser seppur un solo istante
al tuo cuor legato?

La dimensione del limen come confine cui tendere è in generale edificante, convergere al limite è eccitante, è il principio al base della trasgressione, ma anche del gioco della conoscenza, quando al di là della soglia si riesce a scorgere qualcosa verso cui si può sconfinare. Lo spirito libero è anche lui recintato dalla sua percezione di libertà, no?

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at.

Lo zelo degli eletti ha dovuto strappare la spada ai potenti per fare quello che essi non facevano: difendere il popolo e la fede cristiana. E questo non ci insegna forse che quando i governanti permettono che l’empietà si diffonda, allora tradiscono il loro compito e diventano complici della malvagità? Dunque, come i malvagi, secondo le parole dell’apostolo, vanno tolti di mezzo. L’enormità di quelle parole mi colpisce come un pugno, mentre lui comincia a leggere la suo manoscritto.

[…S]e l’arte, in un qualunque senso importante, deve sopravvivere, ciò non accadrà in seguito alla fondazione di solenni accademie, ma accadrà perché qualcuno riuscirà a trovar nuovamente quella capacità di gioie e dolori a cuore aperto, e senza riserve, che la prudenza e la previdenza hanno quasi interamente distrutto.

Durante la conferenza aveva ripensato alla discussione con Metrov e si era reso conto che, se i pensieri del sociologo avevano valore, i suoi non ne erano privi; inoltre s’era detto che i pensieri possono maturare e giungere a un risultato soltanto quando ciascuno lavora per conto proprio nel campo che si è prescelto.

Good job, maker. Let me be the bad boy now.

«Isis, why u no make total destroy?»
«I.. I’m trying!»

«I tell you, no virtue can exist without breaking these ten commandments. Jesus was all virtue, and acted from impulse, not from rules.» When he had so spoken, I beheld the Angel, who stretched out his arms, embracing the flame of fire, and he was consumed and arose as Elijah. One Law for the Lion & Ox is Oppression.

«sono a 2/3 della mia vita, secondo le mie prospettive»
«dacci sotto, allora »

She gave me no reply, but simply made a contemptuous grimace, and, looking that time at her cold eyes and over-fed expression, I realised that for her complete and finished personality no God, no conscience, no laws existed, and that if I had had to set fire to the house, to murder or to rob, I could not have hired a better accomplice.

I suspect that the statements which make people maddest are those they worry might could be true. But, why deliberately go poking among nasty, disputable ideas? Plain curiosity, And I’m especially curious about anything which is forbidden.

et ignotas animum dimittit in artes.

Souvent me souvient.

Tu m’as dit “Je t’aime”,
je t’ai dit “Attends”.
J’allais dire “Prends-moi”,
tu m’as dit ‘’Va-t-en”

I believe that the code has neither a reason, nor a real purpose; I believe that code is art for art’s sake. But, its task is cathartic, it consists into sharing something that you cannot tell to people, something that must be shared only with the machine, and that the machine must assemble, the machine has to guard. And for some secrets the human writes, some the machine executes.

«Ha fatto bene Danton a rubare?» le disse bruscamente e con un tono via via più rude. «I rivoluzionari piemontesi e spagnoli avrebbero fatto bene a compromettere il popolo con qualche delitto, o no? E a dare a chiunque, anche immeritatamente, tutte le cariche militari e tutte le decorazioni? E i decorati non avrebbero temuto il ritorno della monarchia? Bisognava abbandonare al saccheggio il tesoro di Torino? In un parola, signorina,» egli concluse avvicinandosi a lei con piglio feroce, « l’uomo che vuole cacciare l’ignoranza e il delitto dalla terra deve passare come la tempesta e fare il male quasi a caso? » Mathilde ebbe paura, non riuscì a sostenere il suo sguardo e arretro` di due passi.

How can you outwit Death?

Mi piace per curiosità. No, ecco quel che voglio dirti: io quella vecchia maledetta l’ammazzerei e la deruberei, te l’assicuro, senza il minimo scrupolo di coscienza - aggiunse con calore lo studente. L’ufficale scoppiò di nuovo in una risata, e Raskòlnikov trasalì.

È un uomo intelligente, ma per agire intelligentemente l’intelligenza non basta.

In parte l’ho analizzata con successo, in parte ho dovuto cedere ad un compromesso tra il mio approccio intellettuale e il suo essere emotivo: da un certo punto in poi ho smesso di volerla capire, e ho preso a volerle bene.

Guido, te l’ho già detto: tu hai un atteggiamento sbagliato verso di loro. Tu sei curioso, sei curioso in un modo infantile. Poi fai troppe riserve, vuoi troppe garanzie…

«Ma io dico questo: se, con l’aiuto della logica, si persuadesse una persona che in sostanza essa non ha ragione di piangere, quella persona smetterebbe di piangere. Ciò è chiaro. Ma voi siete convinto che non smetterebbe?»
«Vivere sarebbe allora troppo facile,» Rispose Raskòlnikov.

Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame