“And ninety-nine percent of the human race, no matter how smart they are, will do the convenient thing instead of the wise thing, and kid themselves into thinking they can somehow escape the consequences. We’re just built that way.”

—  Poul Anderson , book Brain Wave

Source: Brain Wave (1954), Chapter 4 (p. 28)

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 "And ninety-nine percent of the human race, no matter how smart they are, will do the convenient thing instead of the wi…" by Poul Anderson?
Poul Anderson photo
Poul Anderson 140
American science fiction and fantasy writer 1926–2001

Related quotes

Ron English photo

“One percent intention, ninety nine percent desire.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy: Volume 2 (2022)

Thomas Edison photo

“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman

Spoken statement (c. 1903); published in Harper's Monthly (September 1932).
Variants:
None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Statement in a press conference (1929), as quoted in Uncommon Friends: Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel & Charles Lindbergh (1987) by James D. Newton, p. 24.
Variant forms without early citation: "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework."
"Genius: one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."
1900s
Variant: Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety nine perspiration.

“The most effective lie is ninety-nine percent true.”

Robert Ferrigno (1947) American writer

Prayers For The Assassin (2006)

Sylvia Day photo

“Angel, getting you off is ninety-nine percent of the fun for me.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

Willie Nelson photo
Joseph Delaney photo
Noam Chomsky photo

“Any man who outgrows the myths of childhood is ninety-nine percent aware and convinced of his own mortality.”

John D. MacDonald (1916–1986) writer from the United States

Travis McGee series, Dress Her in Indigo (1969)
Context: Any man who outgrows the myths of childhood is ninety-nine percent aware and convinced of his own mortality. But then comes the chilly breath on the nape of the neck, a stirring of the air by the wings of the bleak angel. When a man becomes one hundred percent certain of his inevitable death, he gets The Look.

Related topics