Paprika’s eye remained fixed on Noda’s chest as she spoke. “You won’t mind me looking like this, will you? I just want you to kiss me goodbye. Just once.”

The biggest mistake I made was believing that if I cast a beautiful net, I’d catch only beautiful things

Look at, say, ancient Egypt, where they were able to build these incredible pyramids and then they basically forgot how to build pyramids. And even hieroglyphics. They forgot how to read hieroglyphics. Or if you look at Rome and how they were able to build these incredible roadways and aqueducts and indoor plumbing, they forgot how to do all of those things. There are many such examples in history. So I think we should always bear in mind that entropy is not on your side.

I just wanna be friends. Plus a little extra. Also, I love you.

Immigrants… we get the job done

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Never underestimate the ability of a small group of dedicated people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Tapestries are made by many artisans working together. The contributions of separate workers cannot be discerned in the completed work, and the loose and false threads have been covered over. So it is in our picture of particle physics.

I believed I should not allow her to love me. I held hard to the idea I should be content to ride out the remainder of my life without complaint, a burned-out case, an absurd hodgepodge of broken parts, a beggar who no longer wished for a horse. But she was also a woman, beautiful and vibrant, and I was a man — in a wheelchair, true — but a man full of heat and desire that sometimes rendered the chair irrelevant.

Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work.