Straton wrote that the most common error we commit is to think that ideas determine reality, when in fact the opposite is true. Ideas follow from material conditions; belief systems are formed to explain and justify the way we live. We did not have kings because we believed in the mandate of heaven; we believed in the mandate of heaven because we lived in monarchies.

The beauty of the universe and the beauty of what we can accomplish within it are two related but separate things, and the separation matters.

The honest philosopher is rewarded with poison; the hypocrite is rewarded with power.

You, sir, are a moron of the highest order.

I've been wondering, what made our ancestors settle in these godforsaken places? It can't have been easy with those frail, squishy bodies of theirs.
What makes a caveman go yes, this frozen hellscape is where I want to live out my days?