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[Ultimately_Untrue_Thought.git] / notes / epigraph_quotes.md

looking for a use—


> "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

(This is Worth a Fight?)
> "—but if one hundred thousand straights can turn up, to show their support for the gay community, why can't you?"
>
> I said wearily, "Because every time I hear the word _community_, I know I'm being manipulated. If there is such a thing as _the gay community_, I'm certainly not a part of it. As it happens, I don't want to spend my life watching _gay and lesbian_ television channels, using _gay and lesbian_ new systems ... or going to _gay and lesbian_ street parades. It's all so ... proprietary. You'd think there was a multinational corporation who had the franchise rights on homosexuality. And if you don't _market the product_ their way, you're some kind of second-class, inferior, bootleg, unauthorized queer."
>
> —"Cocoon" by Greg Egan

> 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

> All should be laid open to you without reserve, for there is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world
>
> —Thomas Jefferson

> 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_

quote that _Blindsight_ passage about an evil god setting males and females against each other

----

(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)
> MUGATU  
> The man has only one look, for Christ's sake! Crossdresser, demigirl, trans woman? They're the _same people_!
>
> Doesn't anyone notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
>
> —[_Zoolander_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbKBWtoH93Q) (paraphrased)

> 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_

(The Hand I Was Dealt)
> 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

(The Hand I Was Dealt?)
> I'll write my way out  
> Write everything down, far as I can see  
> I'll write my way out  
> Overwhelm them with honesty  
> This is the eye of the hurricane  
> This is the only way I can protect my legacy  
>
> —"Hurricane", _Hamilton_

> 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_

> 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"

> "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) 

> Don't think.
> If you think, then don't speak.
> If you think and speak, then don't write.
> If you think, speak, and write, then don't sign.
> If you think, speak, write, and sign, then don't be surprised.
>
> —Soviet proverb

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

> "The only thing standing in the way of my own progress," Sagreda said, "is that the forces that once dealt with us honestly have been buried too deep to reach. All I can touch now is the surface, which is shaped by nothing but whim."
>
> —["Bit Players"](https://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/winter_2014/bit_players_by_greg_egan) by Greg Egan

> 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!