Marge Simpson:

Bart, don't make fun of grad students! They just made a terrible life choice.

Dr. Nanochick:

As of May 1st, 2009, I am now "Dr. Nanochick". Too bad that title doesn't come with a pay raise.

David B. Searls, in PLoS Computational Biology:

While you may not relish extending your indentured servitude in academia, any disadvantage, financial and otherwise, can quickly be made up in the early years of your career in industry. In other words, trying to get off the mark quickly is not necessarily a good reason to choose industry over academia.

Do you want riches? Fame? A life at the frontiers of knowledge? The hurly-burly of the business world?

A somewhat more cynical view would be that in business you will spend seemingly endless hours in meetings and writing plans and reports, while in academia you will spend all that time and more in grantsmanship -- in this regard, you must pick your poison.

Trying to optimize a career decision based on current conditions is a bit like trying to time the stock market -- you are sure to be overtaken by events.

Now, if ever, is the time to be honest with yourself.

Andrew Lahde:

Today I write not to gloat. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Decius:

Life is too short to spend 2300 hours a year working on someone else's idea of what the right problems are.

Ridley Scott:

How close is cynicism to the truth?

They're almost on the same side of the line. Cynicism will lead you to the truth. Or vice versa.

David Foster Wallace:

The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness -- awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water."