One of the great challenges of our age, in which the tools of our productivity are also the tools of our leisure, is to figure out how to make more useful those moments of procrastination when were idling in front of our computer screens. – Joshua Foer
Weve outsourced our memories to digital devices, and the result is that we no longer trust our memories. We see every small forgotten thing as evidence that theyre failing us. – Joshua Foer
Invented languages have often been created in tandem with entire invented universes, and most conlangers come to their craft by way of fantasy and science fiction. – Joshua Foer
Just as we accumulate memories of facts by integrating them into a network, we accumulate life experiences by integrating them into a web of other chronological memories. The denser the web, the denser the experience of time. – Joshua Foer
Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock. – Henry Ward Beecher, Star Papers: A Discourse of Flowers