“I must mend the ways of my mind. This is a very big place, and I do not know how it works.”

— Lewis Thomas

The Fragile Species (1992)
Context: I must mend the ways of my mind. This is a very big place, and I do not know how it works. I am a member of a fragile species, still new to the earth, the youngest creatures of any scale, here only a few moments as evolutionary time is measured, a juvenile species, a child of a species. We are only tentatively set in place, error prone, at risk of fumbling, in real danger at the moment of leaving behind only a thin layer of of our fossils, radioactive at that.

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Lewis Thomas 31

American physician, poet and educator 1913–1993

Edgar Moreira da Cunha (1957) Catholic bishop

Fall River Bishop da Cunha has challenges to face, but don’t expect him to make headlines along the way https://www.heraldnews.com/article/20160325/NEWS/160327607 (March 25, 2016)

“On instruments: "Well, to be honest I don’t think it’s necessary to find out how pieces of equipment work. I would prefer to know how music works, or how my body and my mind work.”

Vangelis (1943) Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock, and orchestral music

After all, it’s more useful to know how to drive a car than it is to know what makes it go. Of course it’s important to know certain things about a machine, but I don’t need to be able to build my own synthesizer. It strikes me that the people who do build them don’t know how to play them, so l’d rather find out more about playing".
1984

“As long as there is a possibility of working I'm not going to retire because if I retire nothing will work any more, and it's hard enough as it is. I'm very conscious that I'm in the minority in that I love what I do. How big is the number of people who are running to work to do a job that they like? And how lucky to be employed at it – how incredibly lucky.”

Judi Dench (1934) English film, stage and television actress

Judi Dench unable to read scripts due to degenerative eye condition https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/feb/18/judi-dench-scripts-eye-condition (February 18, 2012)

“I’m not sure what I’ll do, but— well, I want to go places and see people. I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen on a big scale.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Source: The Ice Palace and Other Stories

“I know South Korea better than anybody, it's a very tight — do you know how many people are in Seoul? Do you know how big the city of Seoul is? 38 million people. That's bigger than anything we have.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Trump talking about Seoul, which is a city with 10 million people according to the city government's English language website. As quoted by * 2020-03-30

Trump tried to flex by asking a reporter about the population of Seoul. Then he got it wrong by 28 million.

Jake Lahut

Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-got-the-population-of-seoul-wrong-by-millions-2020-3?r=US&IR=T
2020s, 2020, March

“How do you know your Colossus is the genuine article in the first place?

I read his mind.

I matched his DNA.

I smelled him.

I also did that.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Source: Astonishing X-Men, Volume 1: Gifted

“I don't know very much but what I do know I know better than anybody, and I don't want to argue about it…My mind is not a bed to be made and re-made.”

James Agate (1877–1947) British diarist and critic

Ego 6 (1944), p. 189, June 9, 1943.

“I've grown up disciplined all my life as a dancer, so I know how to eat and work out. Do I do it? No!”

Erika Jayne (1969) American singer, actress and television personality

Erika Jayne interview to E! News http://www.eonline.com/news/924125/erika-jayne-s-diet-and-fitness-secrets-may-surprise-you (2018)

“.. because I live in Paris, but just outside Paris at the start of Yonne, I have a barn, a very, very big barn.... right near Auxerre, a barn forty meters long, six meters wide and fifteen meters high, and I do all my work there.. it's like a large street, you know.”

Karel Appel (1921–2006) Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet

describing the location outside Paris, where he makes his large relief compositions
Karel Appel defines his painting', interview 1968

“I've been a prima-donna. I was taken care of since I was 13. That's why I am the way I am today. I was spoiled, like a brat. I had anything I wanted. That's crazy to be that way all your life. Everybody's taking care of you, but manipulating you at the same time. Very few people have a life like that. Most people have to work like slaves their whole lives. I've never had a job in my life. What I know how to do is hurt big, tough men — in the street and off.”

Mike Tyson (1966) American boxer

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2005-06-02-tyson-saraceno_x.htm
On himself

“I must mend the ways of my mind. This is a very big place, and I do not know how it works.”

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Lewis Thomas 31

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