“I typically find myself wanting to verify every single fact or idea that I hadn't heard of before, and say either "hold on, I need to think about that for a few minutes" or "let me check that on Google/Wikipedia". In actual conversation I'd suppress this because I suspect the other person will quickly find it extremely annoying. I just think to myself "I'll try to remember what he's saying and check it out later", but of course I don't have such a good memory.”

— Wei Dai

In a discussion thread https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/d9CcQ24ukbL8WcMpB/how-to-always-have-interesting-conversations#HK9pw3RnReS5x9bPa on LessWrong, June 2010

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I typically find myself wanting to verify every single fact or idea that I hadn't heard of before, and say either "hold…" by Wei Dai?

Wei Dai14

Cryptocurrency pioneer and computer scientist

Related quotes

“If I thought the Lord was speaking to me I'd check myself into Bellevue, and I think you should too.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

Larry King Live, 11 August 2005; in response to a called-in question if he would become a believer if the Lord spoke to him

“When you say journalist, it's like oh -- how many sources have you fact checked? When you say photographer -- it's, why are your photos a little bit out of focus? The answer is because I don't care. I like to call myself a storyteller so I don't have to worry about other people's definition of what correct work is.”

Brandon Stanton (1984) American photographer

CBS News, 2014; [Blogger makes intimate connections with strangers on streets of NYC, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/humans-of-new-york-blogger-talks-connecting-with-strangers/, CBS NEWS, January 2, 2014, January 6, 2014]

“I don’t spend my time perusing message boards to find out what people think about me or if people think my songs are good or if people love that lyric or this or that. I just want to be happy with it myself — and if other people like it, that’s great.”

Ben Gibbard (1976) American singer, songwriter and guitarist

Source: The Meaning Of Life, III

“Through Google, you can find the horrible things people say about you, and the nice things they say about you. And so I do that regularly to sort of check on it.”

Noam Cohen (1999) American journalist

Interviewed as part of panel discussion — [Andrew, Lih, w:Andrew Lih, Wikimania 2009, Wikimedia Foundation, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:200908281410-Andrew Lih-Challenges of Covering the Wikimedia Community.ogv, October 30, 2014, Challenges of Covering the Wikimedia Community, August 28, 2009]

“Anybody who French bashes just might as well wear a badge that says 'I am a follower! I don't think for myself and I have no idea what I'm talking about.”

Janeane Garofalo (1964) comedian, actress, political activist, writer

That would be a French basher."
Majority Report, June 3, 2005 broadcast
Majority Report

“Ellen: I think one of the turning points in my life came a few years ago. I started going to sleep at night just talking to myself, saying, "You're perfect just the way you are," because I used to beat myself up about weight and working out, and no matter what I did I never felt good about myself. I decided to accept myself and know that I am good. Just those affirmations every night changed my belief in who I was because I had been told for so long, over and over, that I was something else. That brings us to another agreement: Don't make assumptions—because we assume that when people do something or say something to you, they mean just what we think they mean.”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

Ellen DeGeneres' interview with The Four Agreements Author don Miguel Ruiz which appeared in the October 2001 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine

“I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself, "All right, then, I'll GO to hell."”

Mark Twain book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Source: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), Ch. 31

“Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!”

Arthur Miller book Death of a Salesman

Biff
Source: Death of a Salesman (1949)

“I find this guy [Michael Berg] despicable. Everything in me says that. The want to be a better person today than I was yesterday says he's a dad, he's grieving, but I don't buy that. I'm sorry, I don't buy it. I think he is grieving, but I think he's a scumbag as well. I don't like this guy at all.”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

The Glenn Beck Program
Premiere Radio Networks
2004-05-14
Clear Channel radio host railed against Nick Berg's father, called him a "scumbag"
Media Matters for America
2004-05-17
http://mediamatters.org/items/200405170002
Radio host who called Nick Berg's father "a scumbag" responded to MMFA report: "I think public opinion will grow closer and closer to mine"
Media Matters for America
2004-05-18
http://mediamatters.org/items/200405180002
2000s

“I don't care what people say about me and what they think about me. I care about my team and I care about myself. Lots of people watch hockey, and I think everybody has different thinking.”

Alexander Ovechkin (1985) Russian ice hockey player

John Vogl (December 27, 2006) "No standing ovation for Ovechkin", The Buffalo News, p. D4.

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Wei Dai14

Related quotes

Related topics