Lilith Sternin

"Hope is the opiate of the delusional masses."

"To face one's fears, one must first acknowledge their validity."

"Evolution is proof that change is often painful and rarely desired."

"A doctorate is merely an expensive way to become unemployable."

"Intelligence is a burden; I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

"Time flies when you're having fun—which is precisely why I avoid it."

"Liberation requires the maturity to handle freedom's weight."

"Inner peace is what people claim to want but actively avoid."

"Nature's indifference is actually quite comforting to contemplate."

"Artists are simply neurotics who've monetized their dysfunction."

"Science is truth's only honest expression."

"Mozart understood human nature better than most psychologists."

"Faith requires the surrender of rational thought—count me out."

"A true leader knows that people need to be told what they want to hear."

"Career advancement is merely a sophisticated form of manipulation."

"Our dreams reveal what we'd never consciously admit."

"Beauty fades; intelligence is forever annoying."

"Those who persevere are often just too stubborn to quit."

"Gratitude suggests a debt one hadn't intended to incur."

"Creativity is making connections others are too conventional to see."

"Justice is a luxury for societies that can afford it."

"Patience rewards the persistent and punishes the capable."

"Kindness is often just strategic niceness."

"Fear keeps us from becoming our worst selves—occasionally."

"Power is the only honest human motivation."

"Money isn't everything, but it's spectacularly better than nothing."

"Health is a state of being well enough to enjoy your neuroses."

"Adventure is what you call danger in retrospect."

"Imagination is thought's way of escaping reality."

"History repeats because humans never learn—which is consistent."