[Ultimately_Untrue_Thought.git] / epigraph_quotes.md

looking for a use—

> _There's a heart that must be free  
> To fly  
> That burns with the need to know  
> The reason why  
> Why must we all conceal  
> What we think, how we feel?  
> Must there be a secret me I'm forced to hide?_
>
> —"Reflection", _Mulan_ (as performed by Christina Aguilera)

> "My dear, let us hope it is not true; but, if it is true, let us hope it will not become generally known."
>
> —[probably apocryphal](http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/02/09/darwinism-hope-pray/) reaction to Darwin's theory of natural selection

> What is the most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.
>
> —Susan Sontag

> I knew the mass of men conceal'd      
> Their thoughts, for fear that if reveal'd     
> They would by other men be met        
> With blank indifference, or with blame reprov'd;      
> I knew they liv'd and mov'd           
> Trick'd in disguises, alien to the rest       
> Of men, and alien to themselves—and yet     
> The same heart beats in every human breast!
>
> "The Buried Life" by Matthew Arnold

> When all its work is done, the lie shall rot;  
> The truth is great, and shall prevail,  
> When none cares whether it prevail or not.  
>
> —["Magna Est Vertias" by Coventry Patmore](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9M3ynNuBsRCDfmEsZ/less-wrong-poetry-corner-coventry-patmore-s-magna-est)

> Ultimately every examined life can be interpreted as a disaster; looking closely enough we can always discover psychological and social forces that provide fuel for unlimited rage. [...] But no life can transcend its own disasters unless it celebrates its uniqueness and contributes that which only it can contribute. Life is perverted if one is constantly reacting, never initiating, but always allowing rage to define it.
>
> —Steven Goldberg, _Why Men Rule: A Theory of Male Dominance_

----

(Simple Models Plus Noise Are Better ...)
> The study of psychology is a violation of my privacy.
> 
> —[@InstanceOfClass](https://twitter.com/InstanceOfClass/status/296450595420778497)

(response to hate mail)
> And believe me I am still alive
> I'm doing science and I'm still alive
> I feel fantastic and I'm still alive
> While you're dying I'll be still alive
> And when you're dead I will be still alive 
>
> —_Portal_ end credits song

(Collective Guilt, Collective Shame)
> "My taxon, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."
>
> —Carl Shurz (paraphrased)

(Blanchard's Dangerous Idea)
> If you could only know  
> What we really are  
>
> —[_Steven Universe_ extended theme](https://youtu.be/H23rpzOAIzQ?t=48s)

(sex differences are the right thing to deny)
> Some mommies are ranchers, or poetry makers
> Or doctors or teachers, or cleaners or bakers
> Some mommies drive taxis, or sing on TV
> Yeah, mommies can be almost anything they want to be!
>
> (Well, they can't be grandfathers
> Or daddies!)
>
> —"Parents Are People", _Free to Be You and Me_

(The Gender Czar's Compromise)
> Should array indices start at 0 or 1? My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration.
>
> —Stan Kelly-Bootle

(critiquing Julia Serano on trans being natural)
> Because it's going to be the future soon
> And I won't always be this way
> When the things that make me weak and strange
> Get engineered away
> 
> —"The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton

(how long can the lie endure?? what happens when it all falls down?)
> It's time to put an end to this deception
> But I'm afraid
> When the whole thing is at an end
> And you learn that it's just pretend
> You'll cry "Deception"
>
> —"Deception", _Jem_

> Ooh-bi-doo, I wanna be like you
> I want to walk like you, talk like you, too
> You see it's true, an ape like me
> Can learn to be like you, too
> 
> —"I Wanna Be Like You", _The Jungle Book_

(Mary's Room?)
Moliere on "dormative virtue"

(Blanchard's Dangerous Idea)

> Perhaps someday we [...] will be able to forthrightly acknowledge the paraphilic hand we were dealt and play that hand without equivocation or apology.
>
> —Anne Lawrence, _Men Trapped in Men's Bodies_

> _Well this is the one that I had to write, it's like a  
> A letter of love with no love left out_
>
> —"Dying to Begin" by Stretch Princess

> If you could see  
> The other side of me  
> I'm just like anybody else, can't you tell  
> I hold the key  
> To both realities  
> The girl that I want you to know  
> If only I could show  
> The other side, the other side, the other side of me  
>
> —"The Other Side of Me" by Hannah Montana

> In another life
> I would be your girl
>
> —"The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry

> He once said, "None of the other Rationals I've ever met have anything but an empty-head for an Emotional. I'm lucky." She had said, "But the other Rationals seem to like empty-heads. Why are you different from them, Odeen?" Odeen did not deny that the other Rationals liked empty-heads. He just said, "I've never figured it out and I don't think it's important that I do. I'm pleased with you and I'm pleased that I'm pleased."
>
> —_The Gods Themselves_ by Isaac Asimov

----

Less obviously fitting—

> Knowing his occupation and observing him briefly and superficially were sufficient, together, for me to guess confidently about aspects of Edwin's life that he never mentioned. I know what he was like as a boy. I know what kind of person he is sexually attracted to. I know what kinds of activities interest him and what kinds do not. I am least sure what he will look like five years from now.
>
> —J. Michael Bailey, _The Man Who Would Be Queen: the Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism_, Preface

> I cannot believe my eyes
> How the world's filled with filth and lies
> But it's plain to see
> Evil inside of me
> Is on the rise
>
> —"My Eyes", _Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog_

> "I will destroy you and steal your fiancé, booty booty booty booty rocking everywhere!"
>
> —[from](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF2HCgzxMDA) _Friendship Is Witchcraft_, "Foaly Matripony"

> And there's a fine, fine line
> Between what you wanted
> And what you got
> You've got to go after the things you want
> While you're still in your prime
> 
> —"There's a Fine, Fine Line", _Avenue Q_

> I know there's more that's out there  
> And I just haven't found it yet  
> I know there's more that's out there  
> Another me I haven't met  
>
> —"What More Is Out There", _My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games_

> I don't give a damn about my reputation
> You're living in the past it's a new generation
> A girl can do what she wants to do
> And that's what I'm gonna do
>
> —"Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett

> "The Order of Silent Confessors exists in the hope that, so long as humanity is sane, it can make choices in accordance with its true desires.  Thus there is our Order dedicated _only_ to that, and sworn not to interfere in politics.  So you will spend more time discussing this scenario, my lords, my ladies, and only then generate solutions.  And then ... you will decide."
> 
> —[_Three Worlds Collide_](http://lesswrong.com/lw/y6/war_andor_peace_28/) by Eliezer Yudkowsky

> The realization blasted through Harry like a vast dam breaking, releasing out all its water, bursting through his mind in an irresistible flood that swept everything away.
>
> There is only one reality that generates all of the observations.
>
> If different observations seem to point in incompatible directions, it means the true hypothesis is one you haven't thought of yet.
>
> —_Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality_ by Eliezer Yudkowsky

> I don't want to sabotage you 
> But you see, I've got to try 
>
> —"I'll Fly", _My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic_

> Sometimes the things you want 
> Are not the things you need 
> And it was right there in front of me 
>
> —"Right There in Front of Me", _My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games_

http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/

> Here's to those who love not too wisely, no, not too wisely, but too well  
> To the girl who sighs with envy when she hears that wedding bell  
> To the guy who'd throw a party if he knew someone to call  
> Here's to the losers, bless them all
>
> —"Here's to the Losers"

> This book is about the female primates who have evolved over the last seventy million years. It is dedicated to the liberated woman who never evolved but with imagination, intelligence, an open mind, and perserverance many of us may yet become.
>
> —Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, dedication to _The Woman That Never Evolved_

> "LMAO", says a member of the Community Team. A colleague approaches him and asks why he is laughing. "I just heard the funniest joke in the world!" "Well, go ahead, tell me!" says the other judge. "I can't–I just gave someone a code of conduct violation for it!"
>
> —old Soviet joke (paraphrased) 

https://xkcd.com/1942/

> A woman came up to me and said  
> "I'd like to poison your mind  
> With wrong ideas that appeal to you  
> Though I am not unkind"
>
> —"Whistling in the Dark" by They Might Be Giants


> Every asshole these days has a blog. Every asshole with a blog wants to "change the world." But the great thing about being right is that, when the world catches on, you really can't tell whether or not they heard it from you. The truth, being true, belongs to all.
>
> — https://www.unqualified-reservations.org/2010/11/ur-heard-it-here-first-files/

> Too long I've been afraid of
> Losing love I guess I've lost
> Well, if that's love
> It comes at much too high a cost!

> Stuck, in the middle of fear and shame
> Everybody's looking for someone to blame
> Like it's a game, like it's a game
>
> And now, I am better than win or lose
> There's a new direction that I like to choose
> It's called the truth, it's called the truth
>
> —"True Kinda Love"

> In general, our society less and less encourages looking sexually attractive to other people and more and more encourages acting out inner fantasies that are unattractive to others to make yourself even more of a victim of society.
>
> —[Steve Sailer](http://www.unz.com/isteve/the-woke-war-on-homosexuals/)

> All those days
> Chasing down a daydream
> All those years
> Living in a blur
> All that time
> Never truly seeing
> Things, the way they were
>
> —"I Can See the Light"

> Yet each generation seems to accept the craziness of the past generation, even when balking at the craziness of the new generation. We think that in the past, academia was on track, and that those who opposed progress were crazy, right-wing nut-jobs. But we dissidents think that this time, this new generation—well—they have gone too far and have gone crazy. There is a certain Cthulian horror when suddenly you realize that many of the nut-jobs in the past were actually right. Many were slandered retroactively, not because they were wrong, or evil, not because they made bad predictions, but because they lost and the winners wrote the histories. There is a horror in realizing that you are just like them, this cycle has played out before, and that your children's generation will see you as the nut-job.
>
> —[Devin Helton](https://devinhelton.com/historical-amnesia.html)

[Dagny talking to Wyatt and being in pain that he thinks she's one of the moochers]

[You must say it, because it is true]

> Odeen was selfishly pleased with his own flow and thought it graceful and impressive. He had mention that once to Losten, to whom as his Hard-teacher, he confessed everything, and Losten had said, "But don't you think an Emotional or a Parental feels the same about his own flow-pattern. If each of you think differently and act differently, ought you not to be pleased differently?"
>
> —_The Gods Themselves_ by Isaac Asimov

> In some cases, there is a reason for one gender to adopt certain tasks—males have stronger muscles, and females give birth, and thus big game hunting tends to be done by men (who, in most cultures, are typically male).
>
> —Cailin O'Connor, "Measuring Conventionality"

> Given that females prefer to live with female relatives if they are going to live in groups at all, and given that the size and dispersion of these groups is determined by the interaction of food availability and predation risk, how should males map themselves onto the female distribution?
>
> Robin I. M. Dunbar, Primate Social Systems, Ch. 7, "Evolution of Grouping Patterns"

> STEVEN: Test? What do you mean, test?
> PEARL: Eugh, well, it wasn't really a "test", per se. Not in the traditional sense. We just wanted to see if you were ready to go on missions.
> STEVEN: That's _exactly_ what a test is!
>
> —_Steven Universe_, "The Test"

> He shrugged apologetically. "The question really has no meaning. _Why_ anything? The laws of physics and the boundary conditions of space-time. What more can I say?"
>
> —"Eugene" by Greg Egan

(post for leaving Berkeley)

> I said: "Sophie, I'm sorry things got heated last night. I understand your point of view. A lot of it used to be mine, too. Like I said, I went to U.C. Santa Cruz and Berkeley back in the 1970s, when everything was about socialism. But 40 years of life and reporting in 60 countries has taught me that life is more nuanced than that. These issues aren't that simple. They're more complicated."
>
> She replied, sounding a little distressed and a little bitter, I thought: "When did you begin thinking like that?"
>
> I said: "Piece by piece, not all at once. Over 40 years. Look, I'd love to talk to you again 40 years from now and see if your thinking has changed at all. But I can't—I'll be dead."
>
> She did laugh ruefully at that.
>
> —https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-part-four-what-happened-in-peru-2a641a9b5e83

(Friendship Divorce)
> _I wish you well  
> Couldn't you tell after all these years?  
> I wish you love  
> And life in a world that you're dreaming of_

> This is the one that I had to write  
> It's like a letter of love with no love left out  
>
> —"Dying to Begin" by Stretch Princess

> When truth is buried underground it grows, it chokes, it gathers such an explosive force that on the day it bursts out, it blows up everything with it.
>
> –Emile Zola

> And Durham—the software puppet, the lifeless shell animated by a being from another plane—looked him in the eye and said, "You have to let me show you what you are."
>
> —_Permutation City_ by Greg Egan

> I have had the strength to live through it, I shall have the strength to write it down.
>
> —"The Husband I Bought" by Ayn Rand

> Because life is a gradual series of revelations
> that occur over a period of time
> It's not some carefully crafted story
> It's a mess and we're all gonna die
>
> If you saw a movie that was like real life
> You'd be like "What the hell was that movie about?"
> It was really all over the place.
> Life doesn't make narrative sense.
>
> —"The End of the Movie", _Crazy Ex Girlfriend_

> "Oh, yes," she said, "The Ainsworth house. You designed it. I'm sorry. You just happened to be the victim of one of my rare attacks of honesty. I don't have them often. As you know, if you've read my stuff yesterday."
>
> "I've read it. And—well, I'll follow your example and I'll be perfectly frank. Don't take it as a complaint—one must never complain against one's critics. But really that capitol of Holcombe's is much worse in all those very things you blasted us for. Why did you give him such a glowing tribute yesterday? Or did you have to?"
>
> —_The Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand

> In desperation he quoted André Gide's remark: "It has all been said before, but you must say it again, since nobody listens." Unfortunately, judging by the quotations given here, Gide's remark is still relevant even today.
>
> —Neven Sesardic, _Making Sense of Heritability_

> _I don't care about what all the others say  
> Well, I guess there are some things that will just never go away, I  
> Wish that I could say that there's no better place than home  
> But home's a place that I have never known_
>
> —"On The Run", _Steven Universe_