Quotes

On technology:

Question: How do you envision the internet and our use of the internet over the next 2-3 years, and what changes would you like to see incorporated?

Cliff Stoll: If there is a change, I hope it’s that people will begin to ask skeptical questions — tough questions — of this wonderful technology. - Cliff Stoll

Of all the boring machines ever devised your regular and determined storyteller is the most peremptory and powerful in his operations. - Sir. Walter Scott

I wish we were asking more whether we should, over just whether we can do something. Less hype around shiny, new tech toys and more considerations for the ethical and long-term aspects. - Ava

On change:

We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words. ― Ursula K. Le Guin

I get things are bad, but what are we doing to fix it? - Casey Newton, Tomorrowland

On power:

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” - Alice Walker

On making:

What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create. - Buddha

Nix: How would your jet pack make the world a better place? Young Frank Walker: Can't it just be fun? - Tomorrowland

Doing and making are acts of hope - Corita Kent

Go make a web page! - Joe Crawford

On confidence:

I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night. - Sarah Williams

On imagination:

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. - Albert Einstein

On software:

the trap is 'why can't one person solve it' is false -we need a plurality of approaches - Tantek Çelik

On friendship:

This guy's walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, "Hey you, can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here." The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out." - Leo McGarry in The West Wing

On creativity:

You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. - Dr. Maya Angelou

On fun:

My philosophy is that a cat being drawn on a whiteboard is likely to bring substantially more joy than if there is no cat drawing on the whiteboard. - Me, James

On what's normal:

"there's normal?" - Me, James

On inspiration:

Inspiration is where you find it. - Eduardo Paolozzi

On colour:

Color is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment. — Monet

On motivation:

do everything with so much love in your heart that you would never want to do it any other way – discovered via Tumblr

On doing something new:

you could be doing anything, but you’re going to do what everyone else does? – a friend

“Imagination derives from experience, yet the world we share as background to our contemporary societies is becoming ever more homogeneous. This may hinder us from exploring the unknown - the world we have never previously understood - and we may all end up dreaming the same dreams. Nevertheless, parts of the mind still remain uncontrolled, or rather, untamed. We refer to this as the Wild Realm." - Shinichi Nakazawa

On the web:

the web is always a conversation – a friend

On living:

living entirely in the past feels a bit like death – a friend

On making web pages:

[made with] lots of css, a bit of javascript, and lots of fun – me

“how the semicolons fall” – a friend

more of the web should have sparkly stickers – me

“you’re deleting a javascript file? nice!” – friend

On direction:

“I always get to where I am going by walking away from where I have been.” — Winnie the Pooh

That risk that you are afraid to take might be the one to change your life. – a quote in a postcard from a friend.

On place:

“Be where you are.” - a friend

On Nature:

"The Poetry of earth is never dead" – Keats

Potpurri:

“I'm happy to create a niche of web weavers who talk about Taylor Swift on YouTube.” – me

“If it’s a pixel, I’m interested.” — me