The Great Quotes thread

[Bill Ryan]

You are disturbing me. I am picking mushrooms.

Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician

~~~

In 2002, Perelman proved the Poincaré Conjecture, a longstanding major unsolved problem in mathematics.

He was awarded the Fields Medal, the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize, but he declined to accept it. He was also awarded a million dollars for his achievement. But he declined that as well, choosing instead to take care of his aging mother in a small apartment.

His statement "You are disturbing me. I am picking mushrooms" was a reply to a journalist who had tried to speak to him after writing a book about him titled Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century.

[rgray222]

There are a couple of different versions of this, I like them all

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek,”
by Joseph Campbell

“The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding”
by Dipen Parmar

“The treasure you seek is in the work you’re avoiding”
by Jim Kwik

[Raskolnikov]

Always bringing it to the next level. What a great story and quote Bill. I've always held a deep distrust for organizations that give prizes and honors, as if it were a lever of control used to invert the pure artistic drive to create or discover a new scientific or mathematical breakthrough into the more economic and superficial drive to receive a reward and/or honors, honor being something that can only be conferred by another, as Sartre (political affiliations aside) said in 1964 when refusing his Nobel Prize in Literature,

"I don’t see that it makes any point that someone in the Swedish academy just decides that this work is noble enough to receive a prize — I’ve already gotten the prize. The prize is the pleasure of finding a thing out, the kick in the discovery, the observation that other people use it — those are the real things. The honors are unreal to me. I don’t believe in honors."

Loved yours too rgray222. You could almost start a new thread focusing on great quotes that say the same thing or have a similar message. I'm sure there are thousands of very profound quotes in all fields of endeavor that are expressed slightly differently from various cultures around the world.

Here's another from Joseph Campbell that sounded like the spiritual version of the Matrix red pill moment:

“If you see that the Kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth while others do not see it, the End of the World has come for you. For the world as it was for you has indeed ended.”

[Raskolnikov]

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."

Napoleon Bonaparte

[noxon medem]

" Life is what keeps us all from dying .. "

[Raskolnikov]

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."

Philip K. Dick

[noxon medem]

Amen, Let it happen. Gradualy and then, all of a sudden
A hope for a change for a real difference in common life

[guayabal]

The truth is not something we manufacture; it is something we collide with. --- My local AI (and I?)

[petra]

Posted by Raskolnikov (here)
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."

Philip K. Dick

This is a really really good one thanks!!

The two words that come to mind are “sound” (is it something you hear, or a vibration) and “virgin” (is it someone who has never had sex, or is it someone that has never given birth)

Meanings of words change over time, and we are making up new words too! English is such a mess.

[Eva2]

All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.

Ambrose Bierce

[Raskolnikov]

"I went into the inner death and saw that outer dying is better than inner death. And I decided to die outside and live within."

"Solitude is for me a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often a torment for me, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words."

Carl Jung

[Ewan]

"You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

Marcus Aurelius

[Raskolnikov]

"Discipline is the art of not betraying yourself."

Marcus Aurelius

[rgray222]

To my knowledge, this is not a famous or great quote, but it certainly should be.

[Bill Ryan]

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

Frank Herbert (Dune, 1965)

[Raskolnikov]

A dictionary of new meanings constructed from the comedies of Aristophanes:

“What is a juror? A wasp that is anxious to sting his victims. What is a general? A donkey driver who leads men to death. What is war? A senseless game created by politicians for their own ends. What is peace? Pacification through extermination. What is a politician? An unscrupulous scoundrel who lives solely to take advantage of others. What is a theologian? Another scoundrel who mystifies people with things nobody understands. What is democracy? A form of oligarchy in which the dregs of society assume control. What is the government? A group of clever fools who have seized power to promote their own advantage and abuse the people, who are greater fools. What is a philosopher? A madman who lives suspended in a hanging basket, endlessly talking nonsense about this and that, and only succeeding in disorienting those who listen to him. What is a Sophist? Another madman who employs language to manipulate people and become wealthy. What is a scientist? A demented man characterized by arrogance, who spends his time thinking about the stars and the shape of the earth. What is love? Normally nothing but a camouflaged sexual urge. What is education? The process by which young persons are indoctrinated in the ways of the old and by which they grow effeminate and lazy.”

Diogenes the Cynic, Luis E. Navia’s.

[Vicus]

Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.

- Og Mandino

[rgray222]

Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, served on the World Economic Forum Foundation Board from 2010 until 2025, was a central bank governor and was a special envoy to the United Nations. When Carney was criticized for being a globalist and an elitist, he openly embraced the labels.

"People will charge me with being elitist or a globalist, to use that term, which is, well, that's exactly, it happens to be exactly what we need."

[Raskolnikov]

Posted by rgray222 (here)
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, served on the World Economic Forum Foundation Board from 2010 until 2025, was a central bank governor and was a special envoy to the United Nations. When Carney was criticized for being a globalist and an elitist, he openly embraced the labels.

"People will charge me with being elitist or a globalist, to use that term, which is, well, that's exactly, it happens to be exactly what we need."

This one seemed appropriate...

"A sound mind can neither be bought nor borrowed. And if it were for sale, I doubt whether it would find a buyer. And yet unsound ones are being purchased every day."

Seneca, Letters from a Stoic