What I learned on my own I still remember

Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love; close enough on the surface but, to the nonsucker, not exactly the same thing

It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiot rather than the introspective wise person have passed us some of their genes. This is apparent from a social pathology: psychopaths rally followers.

Just as no monkey is as good-looking as the ugliest of humans, no academic is worthier than the worst of the creators

...avoidance of small mistakes makes the large ones more severe.

The imagination of the genius vastly surpasses his intellect; the intellect of the academic vastly surpasses his imagination