The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Artificial intelligence2 quotes
"Could a machine think?" my own view is that only a machine could think, and indeed only very special kinds of machines, namely brains and machines that had the same causal powers as brains... Whatever else intentionality is, it is a biological phenomenon, and it is as likely to be as causally dependent on the specific biochemistry of its origins as lactation, photosynthesis, or any other biological phenomena. — John R. Searle · 1980The reason that no computer program can ever be a mind is simply that a computer program is only syntactical, and minds are more than syntactical. Minds are semantical, in the sense that they have more than a formal structure, they have a content. — John R. Searle · 1984American West1 quote
Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
Out where the smile dwells a little longer,
That's where the West begins. — Arthur Chapman · 1917Bird songs1 quote
There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain. — Colleen McCullough · 1977Birds1 quote
There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain. — Colleen McCullough · 1977Civic virtue1 quote
In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue. — James Q. Wilson · 1985Going for it1 quote
How can you hesitate? Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth. — Katherine Mansfield · 1922Perception1 quote
We must be careful of what we think we are, because we may become that. — James Q. Wilson · 1993Political theory1 quote
In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue. — James Q. Wilson · 1985Reaching one's potential1 quote
I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming... This all sounds very strenuous and serious. But now that I have wrestled with it, it's no longer so. I feel happy-deep down. All is well. — Katherine Mansfield · 1922Reason and emotion1 quote
The feelings on which people act are often superior to the arguments they employ. — James Q. Wilson · 1993Red Scare1 quote
There was bad faith and good, honesty and dishonesty, courage and cowardice, selflessness and opportunism, wisdom and stupidity, good and bad on bath sides; and almost every individual involved, no matter where he stood, combined some or all of these antithetical qualities in his own person, in his own acts.... It will do no good to search for villains or heroes or saints or devils because there were none; there were only victims. — Dalton Trumbo · 1970Taking risks1 quote
How can you hesitate? Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth. — Katherine Mansfield · 1922The human condition1 quote
I long ago come to the conclusions that all life is 6 to 5 against. — Damon Runyon · 1935Understanding oneself1 quote
I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming... This all sounds very strenuous and serious. But now that I have wrestled with it, it's no longer so. I feel happy-deep down. All is well. — Katherine Mansfield · 1922