Quotes About Analysis

conducts a swift mental list of people she

Lily Houghton-Miller stood in the middle of my living room and surveyed me with the detached interest of a scientist gazing at a new variety of manure-based invertebrate.

Throughout the primary, he'd report back from the field on what he was hearing at campaign events and from friends across the country. Mook's response was always a variation on the same analysis: the data run counter to your anecdotes.

That passage makes, clearly and for the first time, the crucial distinction between rejecting an argument for a conclusion and rejecting the conclusion itself. The art of criticism cannot thrive unless that distinction is grasped. (pp51)

At first I was queasy I'll never forget the sound of the scalpel cutting a body open. But it was so cool trying to work out how these people died.

It is impossible to analyze "the meaning of life" in the abstract, or in general, or for some mythical and perfectly rational being. Only by knowing the kinds of beings that we actually are, with the complex mental and emotional architecture that we happen to possess, can anyone even begin to ask about what would count as a meaningful life.

Exploratory thought is an "evenhanded consideration of alternative points of view." Confirmatory thought is "a one-sided attempt to rationalize a particular point of view.

people invest their IQ in buttressing their own case rather than in exploring the entire issue more fully and evenhandedly."22

Schools don't teach people to reason thoroughly; they select the applicants with higher IQs, and people with higher IQs are able to generate more reasons.

It is impossible to analyze "the meaning of life" in the abstract, or in general, or for some mythical and perfectly rational being. Only by knowing the kinds of beings that we actually are, with the complex mental and emotional architecture that we happen to possess, can anyone even begin to ask about what would count as a meaningful life

Taking practice apart for analysis kills something that is a dynamic, variable, and highly complex personal endeavor.

Give every data point the attention and scrutiny it deserves, and keep an open mind for alternative explanations that may explain your observations as well as (or better than) your pet theories.

Know your enemy. The more you know about them, the less easily they can surprise you. And by studying them you might identify a weakness or vulnerability.

You can learn much about an enemy when you watch him win. We will watch and learn . . . and plan.

the plural of "anecdote" is "data.

Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean. They speak different languages and use different powers of the brain.

If there is such a thing as media theory, there should also be format theory. Writers have too often collapsed discussions of format into their analyses of what is important about a given medium. Format denotes a whole range of decisions that affect the look, feel, experience, and workings of a medium. It

In recent weeks it has come to my attention that many caravans have met with disaster; they have not gotten through." I grunted wisely. "Probably ran out of water. That's the thing about deserts. Dry." "Indeed. A fascinating analysis. But survivors reaching Hebron report differently: monsters fell upon them in the wastes." "What, fell upon them in a squashed-them kind of way?" "More the leaped-out-and-slew-them kind. (...)

Probing psychological analysis is one thing: namely impartial observation, liberally spiced with sarcasm and personal abuse — let's face it, I'm good at all that — constructive suggestions, quite another.

Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.

There's two possible outcomes if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.

There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery

la inteligencia es una forma de evaluar la realidad que, según el dominio de un tipo de inteligencia o de otro, dará diferentes resultados.

Freud knew the answers. If you don't understand something about sex, don't say it's awful or mysterious. Look it up in Freud.