Food for Thought

I wanted a place to write down a bunch of really cool thoughts, quotes, and ideas that I've stumbled upon on the Internet.

Sometimes the source isn't the original ones, but where I first came across them. It could be from a friend, a random comment, a blog post, a video, or even a movie.

Last trimmed on 14 Mar 2024.

General

• "Be kind" – How to Be Correct About Everything All the Time
• "Be nice, be forgiving, but don't be a pushover" – What The Prisoner's Dilemma Reveals About Life, The Universe, and Everything
• "Eat it slow. You're never going to taste your first beignet again" – Chef (2014 film)
• "Context is everything" – Trevor Noah
• "If you can't be happy at the present, you will never be happy" – Mark Rober
• "Without power, you can affect nothing" – The Rules for Rulers
• "We are so conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unawares" – The Cab Ride I'll Never Forget
• "The most surprising thing is that you wouldn’t let anyone steal your property, but you consistently let people steal your time, which is infinitely more valuable" – Life Is Not Short
• "We tend to grossly overestimate the pleasure brought forth by new experiences and underestimate the power of finding meaning in current ones." – Travel Is No Cure for the Mind
• "Minor Barriers Aren’t Minor" – Some Advice Gathered from People Smarter than Me
• Four Thousand Weeks
• "I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch since the hour for lunch has arrived – and dying I will tend to later" – Epictetus

Career

• "Be curious, work hard, and get lucky" – How To Come Up With Good Ideas
• "The more you do and the more people you tell about it, the larger your Luck Surface Area will become" – How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area
• "Act without expectation. Make cool stuff just because" – You Will Never Do Anything Remarkable
• "Ideas are just a multiplier of execution" – Derek Sivers
• "Always ask yourself “And then what?”" – Second-Order Thinking
• "I started noticing 'Pretend Work' all around me...People staying busy, but not really getting anything done." – Two and a half years of building products
• How I Made $8,000 per Month Podcasting, and Why You Probably Don’t Want To
• "Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things" – The Dilbert Blog
• "Strong opinions, loosely held" – Brian

Software Eng.

• The Grug Brained Developer
• Choose Boring Technology
• Why I Built Litestream
• DevOps is Bullshit
• What Does It Take To Be An Expert In Python
• Transforming Code into Beautiful, Idiomatic Python
• Saying Goodbye to the Best Gig I Ever Had

Money

• "... the second price...the effort and initiative required to gain its benefits..." – Everything Must Be Paid for Twice
• "You're not that smart, so don't bet 100% on yourself" – Risk Management Advice from a Former Professional... Gambler
• "How cash in the bank affects your lifestyle: It's not linear." – Rich vs. King in the Real World
• "Opportunity costs are the driving force behind every decision that we make" – How I Lost $150K in a Day