“Die Mathematiker sind eine Art Franzosen: Redet man zu ihnen, so übersetzen sie es in ihre Sprache, und dann ist es alsobald ganz etwas anderes.”
– J.W. von Goethe

“It is a frightening thought that man also has a shadow side to him, consisting not just of little weaknesses and foibles, but of a positively demonic dynamism. The individual seldom knows anything of this; to him, as an individual, it is incredible that he should ever in any circumstances go beyond himself. But let these harmless creatures form a mass, and there emerges a raging monster; and each individual is only one tiny cell in the monster’s body, so that for better or worse he must accompany it on its bloody rapages and even assist it to the utmost.”
– Carl G. Jung

“Obviously one must hold oneself responsible for the evil impulses of one’s dreams. In what other way can one deal with them? Unless the content of the dream [...] is inspired by alien spirits, it is part of my own being.

No one who, like me, conjures up the most evil of those half-tamed demons that inhabit the human breast, and seeks to wrestle with them, can expect to come through the struggle unscathed.”
– Sigismund Freud

(thanks to Patrick)

Signals play a particularly important role within organisms and among individuals of highly cooperative species. Because in both these cases there is little or no conflict of interest, signals should be as cheap as possible while still maintaining reliability. Cheap signaling systems enhance the efficiency of the organism or cooperative system but they are also more easily subverted by exploitative agents (Markl 1985), such as pathogens or politicians.

( Peter Hammerstein et al. (2006). Robustness: A Key to Evolutionary Design. Biological Theory. )

“Living is a sequence of episodes in which organisms attempt to reach goals and avoid losses.”
– Randolph Nesse

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”
— Isaac Asimov

via Iggy

“Einen Erwachsenen nennt man jenes Krüppelwesen, das in einer entzauberten Welt sogenannter Tatsachen existiert.”
Michael Ende (1929 – 1995)

Und an dieser Stelle eine wunderbare Leseempfehlung:
“Das Gefängnis der Freiheit”, Michael Ende.

“The best revenge is bitter sarcasm and unhappiness.”
– Joey Comeau

“The differences between sanity and madness are but a matter of degree.”

– Eugen Bleuler, 1901

“Der Grund, warum Gesichter so faszinieren hat damit zu tun, dass man, je mehr man das Dahinter erahnt, um so milder mit den Menschen umzugehen lernt.”
– Peter Lindbergh