13 Quotes by Oliver Benjamin

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. – Frank Zappa.

The 20th century linguistic revolution is the recognition that language is not merely a device for communicating ideas about the world, but rather a tool for bringing the world into existence in the first place. – Misia Landau.

Erik Erikson coined the term “pseudo-speciation” to describe our xenophobic instinct. It is as if we rejected out of hand the unity of the species, setting up in its place a thousand egregious dichotomies. – Melvin Konner, Why the Reckless Survive.

Outside of severe hallucinogens like PCP, by far the most “dangerous” drug of all is alcohol, and aside from the fistfights, car accidents and karaoke it causes, society still celebrates it.

Beware of the pursuit of the Superhuman: it leads to an indiscriminate contempt for the Human. To a man, horses and dogs and cats are mere species, outside the moral world. Well, to the Superman, men and women are mere species too, also outside the moral world. – George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman.

While the process of evolution is often characterized in terms of dog-eat-dog competition and the “survival of the fittest,” this new research also reveals that, in fact, nice guys often finish first. Our species’ success over the eons is due to the fact that we are the most cooperative creatures on earth. – William Allman, The Stone Age Present.

The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. – Steven Wright.

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.