Kafka in his Diaries writes that there are two cardinal sins from which all others sins derive: impatience and laziness.

If you can't decide, the answer is No.

When you see a good move, look for a better one.

I understand there's a guy inside me who wants to lay in bed, smoke weed all day, and watch cartoons and old movies. My whole life is a series of stratagems to avoid, and outwit, that guy.

Look around your environment.

Rather than seeing items as objects, see them as magnets for your attention. Each object gently pulls a certain amount of your attention toward it.

Whenever you discard something, the tug of that object is released. You get some attention back.

Remember that the thing that is most likely to be wrong is the thing that you heard most recently, because we've not had the chance to verify it yet.

It's easier to win an argument with a genius than an idiot.

The best arguments in the world won't change a single person's mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.

Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.

Modern history is a race between education and catastrophe.

Tools can be a subtle trap.

-- The Sandman

Demarco and Lister, in their famous Coding War Games experiment, demonstrated just this - the best predictor of quality for programmers, they found, was not years of experience or salary but rather how quiet their office environment was.

If you don't understand it at 2pm, good luck at 2am.

Something I explained to my 12 yo: When you're a little kid, your parents create your environment. Then there's a second stage where your peers do. Then for ambitious people there's a third stage where you create your own environment by choosing your own peers.

Taught 8 yo a rule of thumb for avoiding cults and cult-like things: Avoid groups that tell you not to talk to your family.

My mother on childraising: “All you have to do is love them and show them the world.”

Be skeptical of political opinions that don't survive having kids.

Little kids emulate big kids, but it works the other way too. Nothing makes a 6 yo try harder to do something than a 3 yo who can.

Having multiple kids makes it clear how much is nature vs nurture. How much momentum character has. At best you can steer it.

It's depressingly common to see parents staring at their phones while pushing their kids on the swings. Distraction addiction.