Arturo Serrano

“Until one has some kind of professional relationship with books one does not discover how bad the majority of them are. In much more than nine cases out of ten the only objectively truthful criticism would be “This book is worthless”, while the truth about the reviewer’s own reaction would probably be “This book does not interest me in any way, and I would not write about it unless I were paid to.”
― George Orwell, All Art is Propaganda: Critical Essays

“To be humble is to take specific actions in anticipation of your own errors. To confess your fallibility and then do nothing about it is not humble; it is boasting of your modesty.”
― Eliezer Yudkowsky, Rationality: From AI to Zombies

“Il est certains esprits dont les sombres pensées
Sont d’un nuage épais toujours embarrassées ;
Le jour de la raison ne le saurait percer.
Avant donc que d’écrire, apprenez à penser.
Selon que notre idée est plus ou moins obscure,
L’expression la suit, ou moins nette, ou plus pure.
Ce que l’on conçoit bien s’énonce clairement,
Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisément.”
― Nicolas Boileau, L'Art Poétique

“a Philosopher could not grasp the modern idea of progress ... until he was willing to abandon ancestor worship, until he analyzed away his inferiority complex toward the past, and realized that his own generation was superior to any yet known”
― Carl Becker, Progress and Power