The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
— John Kenneth Galbraith
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under Communism, it’s just the opposite.
— John Kenneth Galbraith
A hypothetical paradox: What would happen in a battle between an Enterprise security team, who always get killed soon after appearing, and a squad of Imperial Stormtroopers, who can’t hit the broad side of a planet?
— Tom Galloway
[W]e have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not in the sense that our grandparents had a future, or thought they did. Fully imagined cultural futures were the luxury of another day, one in which “now” was of some greater duration. For us, of course, things can change so abruptly, so violently, so profoundly, that futures like our grandparents’ have insufficient “now” to stand on. We have no future because our present is too volitile. […] We have only risk management. The spinning of a given moment’s scenarios. Pattern recognition.
— William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
The temptation to push the degauss button continuously is hard to resist.
— Steve Gifford
“Imagine you’re falling off a cliff and all you’ve got is a rope to save yourself. At the top of the cliff there’s a CMU graduate and an MIT graduate. Which do you throw the rope to?”
“The MIT graduate.”
“The MIT graduate!!? Why?”
“I’m probably going fast enough to yank him off the cliff.”
— Steve Gifford
- Henry:
- I am Henry the Red, Duke of Shale, Lord of the Northlands and leader of its peoples.
- Ash:
- Well hello Mr. Fancy-pants. I got news for you pal, you ain’t leadin’ but two things right now. Jack and shit … and Jack left town.
— Marcus Gilbert and Bruce Campbell; Army of Darkness
A man who knows his road can occasionally jump off it, whereas a man who does not know his road can only be on it by accident.
— Eric Gill
The Net interprets censorship as damage, and routes around it.
— John Gilmore
- Ginsberg’s Theorem
-
- You can’t win.
- You can’t break even.
- You can’t even quit the game.
- Freeman’s Commentary on Ginsberg’s theorem:
- Every major philosophy that attempts to make life seem meaningful is based on the negation of one part of Ginsberg’s Theorem. To wit:
-
- Capitalism is based on the assumption that you can win.
- Socialism is based on the assumption that you can break even.
- Mysticism is based on the assumption that you can quit the game.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I have trouble paying more than three digits for something that can’t be plugged into a wall.
— Sean Goller (on engagement rings, since recanted)
If your sysadmin’s not being fascist, you’re paying him too much.
— Sam Greenfield
Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
— Matt Groening, Life in Hell
What is a magician but a practising theorist?
— Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness)
You teach kids how to succeed when they successfully foil the educational system.
— Arlo Guthrie
UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever things.
— Doug Gwyn