Jerry Weinberger:

Our pursuit of happiness first makes us unhappy, and then makes us poor because it makes us corrupt, which then makes us even more unhappy.

For a smart and lucky person in civilized society, the wise thing to do is to work hard and then retire as early as possible.

Alain de Botton:

The need to diet, which we know so well in relation to food, and which runs so contrary to our natural impulse, is something we now have to relearn in relation to knowledge, people and ideas. We require periods of fast in the life of our minds no less than in that of our bodies.

Jay Rosen:

Ninety percent of everything is crap, but that's nothing novel. There's just more everything now.

Lydia Davis:

When you're very young, you're usually happy -- at least you're ready to be. You get older and see things more clearly and there's less to be happy about.

Evgeny Morozov:

The environment of media scarcity produced voters who, on average, were far less partisan and far better informed about politics than are today's voters.

Peter Maass:

It little matters whether we fill our tanks at BP or Exxon stations. What matters is that we visit gas stations less often.

John Allen Paulos:

Unless we know how things are counted, we don't know if it's wise to count on the numbers.

Robert I. Sutton:

Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much.

David Gelernter:

Internet culture is a culture of nowness. As we learn more about now, we know less about then.