We often benefit from harm done to us by others; almost never from self-inflicted injuries. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

We do not spontaneously learn that we don't learn that we don't learn. The problem lies in the structure of our minds: we don't learn rules, just facts, and only facts. Metarules (such as the rule that we have a tendency to not learn rules) we don't seem to be good at getting. We scorn the abstract; we scorn it with passion.

An idea stats to be interesting when you get scared of taking it to its logical conclusion.

An enemy who becomes a friend will always be a friend; a friend turned enemy will remain so forever.