“Iconography becomes even more revealing when processes or concepts, rather than objects, must be depicted—for the constraint of a definite “thing” cedes directly to the imagination. How can we draw “evolution” or “social organization,” not to mention the more mundane “digestion” or “self-interest,” without portraying more of a mental structure than a physical reality? If we wish to trace the history of ideas, iconography becomes a candid camera trained upon the scholar's mind.”

— Stephen Jay Gould, book Eight Little Piggies

"A Tale of Three Pictures", p. 428
Eight Little Piggies (1993)

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Stephen Jay Gould274

American evolutionary biologist 1941–2002

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Arthur D. Hall (1925–2006) American electrical engineer

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“Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine.”

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) American economist and diplomat

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Context: Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine. A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt. It is now the only place in our overly active world that does.

“There are more things, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

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“We will give two practical Courses of self-training, mental and physical, with which we can fit ourselves to become successful pioneers for the new age.”

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“The medieval imagery and iconography is so good for the imagination.”

Terry Gilliam (1940) American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe

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Stephen Baxter book Evolution

Source: Evolution (2002), Chapter 11 “Mother’s People” section I (p. 337)

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