In The Midst of Wonders

"Where the uninformed and unenquiring eye perceives neither novelty nor beauty, he walks in the midst of wonders" - John Hershel, from The Age of Wonder, originally from A Preliminary Discourse on the Stud of Natural Philosophy

Custom and Example

"I thus concluded that it is much more custom and example that persuade us than any certain knowledge, and yet inspite of this the voice of the majority does not afford a proof of any value in truths a little difficult to discover, because such truths are much more likely to have been discovered by one man than by a nation." - Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method and Meditations

The Dizziness of Freedom

"A man stands on the edge of a cliff and looks down at all the possibilities of his life.  He reflects on all the things he could become.  He knows he has to jump (i.e. make a choice).  But he also knows that if he jumps, he'll have to live within the boundaries of that one choice.  So the man feels exhilaration but also an intense dread."  - Jad Abumrad quoting Kierkegaard

Steve Jobs on Experience

"A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. They don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions, without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better designs we will have.” - Steve Jobs, Wired, February, 1996