The Core

“If you’re the smartest person in the Zoom, you’re in the wrong Zoom.” -anonymous

This one is mostly for Ergo:

"There is a considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." -Yosemite Park Ranger on why it's hard to design a bear-proof garbage can.

From here.

When park rangers could be international diplomats.

Another of my favorite ranger quotes. Carl Sharsmith worked as a seasonal ranger for 64 years (he was a botany professor in the winter). He was still leading flower walks in his last year of life at 91 years old. When your work the visitor center desk, sometimes people will ask you, "If you had just one day to spend in Yosemite, what would you do?"

Sharsmith's answer was, "If I had only one day to spend in Yosemite, I would walk to the Merced River, put my face in my hands, and cry."

Much more so than the bear one, that one really did hit home for me. It's a beautiful response. I never dared to use it, though, because it's also a bit negative.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sharsmith

Leonardo Da Vinci: As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well used brings a happy death.

"You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails"

- an unsourced proverb

"I was so lonely i started searching for friendship on Amazon Answers."

Me, by way of too many beers on no food.

"Nobody has ever eaten their way to becoming a Michelin Star chef. You have to actually cook." -David Perell on consuming information vs. proficiency

“If falsehood, like truth, had but one face, we would be more on equal terms. For we would consider the contrary of what the liar said to be certain. But the opposite of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field.”
— Michel de Montaigne