Joshua Foer Quotes

66 quotes in 1211 categories

• We're all just a bundle of habits shaped by our memories. And to the extent that we control our lives, we do so by gradually…
• Experts step outside their comfort zone and study themselves failing.
• When you want to get good at something, how you spend your time practicing is far more important than the amount of time you spend.
• As bad as we are at remembering names and phone numbers and word-for-word instructions from our colleagues, we have really exceptional visual and spatial memories.
• To the extent that experience is the sum of our memories and wisdom the sum of experience, having a better memory would mean knowing not…
• Monotony collapses time. Novelty unfolds it.
• When we first hear [a] word, we start putting these associational hooks into it that make it easier to fish it back out at some…
• The art and science of memory is about developing the capacity to quickly create images that link disparate ideas. Creativity is the ability to form…
• Many memory techniques involve creating unforgettable imagery, in your minds eye. Thats an act of imagination. Creating really weird imagery really quickly was the most…
• Our ability to find humor in the world, to make connections between previously unconnected notions, to create new ideas, to share in a common culture:…
• The way to get better at a skill is to force yourself to practice just beyond your limits.
• Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of creativity…
• 'Moonwalking with Einstein' refers to a memory device I used when I memorized a deck of playing cards at the U.S. Memory Championship. When I…
• Some memorizers arbitrarily associate each playing card with a familiar person or object, so that the king of clubs is represented by, say, Tony Danza.…
• The best memorizers in the world - who almost all hail from Europe - can memorize a pack of cards in less than a minute.…
• Now more than ever, as the role of memory in our culture erodes at a faster pace than ever before, we need to cultivate our…
• How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by losing ourselves in our Blackberries, our iPhones, by not paying attention to…
• I have never been particularly good with languages. Despite a dozen years of Hebrew school and a lifetime of praying in the language, I'm ashamed…
• Invented languages have often been created in tandem with entire invented universes, and most conlangers come to their craft by way of fantasy and science…
• Just as we accumulate memories of facts by integrating them into a network, we accumulate life experiences by integrating them into a web of other…

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