Non Fiction Quotes

“Trail magic, the amazing things that happen when you’re out and about, when you open yourself to new experiences, when you pay attention.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“We started it. We started it with the occupation, and we are duty-bound to end it—a real and complete ending. We started the violence. There is no violence worse than the violence of the occupier, using force on an entire nation, so the question about who fired first is therefore an evasion meant to distort the picture.”
― Gideon Levy, The Punishment of Gaza

“Writing is not necessarily difficult. However, writing something that will outlive you is another matter.”
― John J. McBrearty, COMBAT JOURNAL, Operation Iraqi Freedom: Part 1 of 4

“Sincero y veraz como soy, me es imposible abrir mi corazón: mi alma tiende sin cesar a cerrarse; nunca lo digo todo y solamente he confesado mi vida entera en estas Memorias. No hablo nunca con nadie "de paso" de mis intereses, de mis intenciones, de mis trabajos, de mis ideas, de mis afectos de mis alegrías, de mis tristezas, pues estoy convencido del profundo tedio que se causa a los demás hablándoles de uno mismo.”
― Chateaubriand, Memoires D'outre-Tombe

“In the wilderness, as in life, to get to where you want to go, you first have to know where you are, and in life at least, who you are.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“Grief and times of desolation will visit every one of us, and learning to see them as a gift rather than a curse can change our resistance.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“We must learn to consciously remind ourselves of our copious blessings even when the rest of our life doesn’t measure up in the way we want. There will always be aches and wishes beyond our reach, and yet we can still appreciate what we have and share our plenty.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“I have found that success often comes out of many failures. In some of my failures, I have come face-to-face with the fact I just don’t know enough to do what I’m trying to do. There’s no shame in that. I still have worth and value, despite what I don’t know.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“Finding a zero day is a little like entering God mode in a video game. Once hackers have figured out the commands or written the code to exploit it, they can scamper through the world's computer networks undetected until the day the underlying flaw is discovered. Zero day exploitation is the most direct application of the cliche 'knowledge is power if you know how to use it.”
― Nicole Perlroth, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race

“Thanks to the media and the politicians—two of the worst agents for dumbing down and blinding Israeli society—we learned that the Arabs were born to kill, the whole world is against us, anti-Semitism determines how Israel is dealt with and there is no connection between our actions and the price we pay.”
― Gideon Levy, The Punishment of Gaza

“At some point you do say to yourself, “I’m trying to be the best version of me, what’s wrong? What am I missing as a person?” There’s no reasoning with him. He doesn’t have time for this crap…we have a facade to maintain. So shut up, put on your best Laura Ashley dress and let’s go.

Then something inside you breaks.

- A Letter To Hannah”
― Brenda Thornlow

“In the history of revolutions, a couple of truisms had already emerged. One is that they are only successful when security forces defect or are defeated in violent conflict. Even if Moa Zedong was being a bit proactive when he said that “power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” experts agree that he is not so far off. You can’t run a country if the biggest army around wants to stop you. Another is that revolutionary opportunities often arise when there are divisions in the ruling class–that is, when elites are fighting amongst themselves. And one more truism is that revolutions are contagious; at least, uprisings tend to cluster around certain moments in time.”
― Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution

“Indefinite torture, harassment, and intimidation, the grand design behind the scheme yet unknown. I had not expected such a juncture in my life. Humiliated, devalued, dethroned; words of negation afflicted me. Recent years’ occurrences hurled me into an abyss of despair.”
― DR NEETHA JOSEPH, A Recusant’s Incarnation: A Memoir

“There's this word Libel that people love to pass around when filing lawsuits against someone who accurately described them in a publication. It does not scare me because I know that the story terrifies them enough to stick to the compromise that I called it fiction”
― Niedria Kenny, Order in the Courtroom: The Tale of a Texas Poker Player

“Why am I not being accepted by my peers? I am studying so hard, but why am I not getting high grades? Why am I sad all the time? These are all questions that described my experiences when I was a teenager decades ago. Yet, through the questions and pain, as you will read, I accomplished many goals and helped a significant amount of people along the journey.”
― Eric Legette

“Writer exits stage left. In walks, HER. 'Don't mind me, I'm just getting into character.' " - Lexi Vaughn aka China Doll from The Tale of The Texas Poker Player”
― Niedria Kenny, Order in the Courtroom: The Tale of a Texas Poker Player

“The differences in the life chances of the rich and the poor, men and women, Brahmins and Doms and, for that matter, Keralites and Biharis, Hindus and Muslims across India are so sharp that, until these inequalities are bridged, it is impossible for the nation as a whole to prosper, let alone be a world leader.”
― Swati Narayan, UNEQUAL: Why India Lags Behind Its Neighbours

“The evidence that artificial intelligence is artificially speciating is found in today's lexicon for the emerging field of AI Safety. The very concepts that currently define AI Safety - machine ethics and AI Alignment - are variations of existing artificial evolutionary concepts”
― David R Wood, On the Origin of Artificial Species: By Means of Artificial Selection

“Perfection can be styled, but rarely sustained.”
― Francine Jay, Lightly: How to Live a Simple, Serene, and Stress-free Life

“I wrote Traveling the Consulting Road, based upon what I wish I knew at each stage of a thirty-seven year consulting career. I think this book will bring smiles to pros, teach a few techniques to journeymen, but mostly help new consultants, make fewer mistakes than I did when I was a newbie.”
― Alan Cay Culler, Traveling the Consulting Road: Career Wisdom for new consultants, candidates, and their mentors

“The philosophy that guided my ultralight backpacking innovations—“take less, do more”—also guided me in just about every aspect of my life.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“When we know exactly what we need and how to provide it for ourselves, then we also come to recognize what is not essential.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“In all aspects of our lives, balance matters, and it shapes what our ultimate experience will be. But to find our own true and unique balance, we have to first assess our choices.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“Facing failure and learning to overcome it can be a powerful motivator, giving us a boost that transcends the problem currently facing us.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“Being kind and generous doesn’t always have to cost us a lot. It’s more a matter of attuning ourselves to those around us. But that takes practice, like everything else.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“By taking less, I’m able to do more, and the result benefits the entire community. What more could we want for a healthy and fulfilling life?”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“If we’re not constantly pushing the boundaries of what we know and how we’re interacting with the world around us, then life becomes repetitive and tedious.”
― Glen Van Peski, Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons in Generosity, Gratitude, and Curiosity from an Ultralight Backpacker

“All Victims Deserve Justice”
― Graham Blewitt, Justice and War Crimes

“Here and now, it is my war, our war, the war of us all, for which we all bear responsibility, of which we are all guilty. And therefore it is incumbent on us to make our voice heard, a different voice, a ‘hallucinatory’ voice to the ears of the desensitized, a voice that is ‘traitorous,’ ‘base,’ ‘Jew-hating,’ ‘contemptible’—and different. This is not only our right, it is our supreme duty toward the state to which we are so bound, we patriotic scoundrels.”
― Gideon Levy, The Punishment of Gaza

“I believed starting a new life here, with people who once knew me before it all came crumbling down would…it’s difficult to put into words. I guess I wanted roots. I wanted to be a part of something.

- A Letter to Hannah”
― Brenda Thornlow