#arbitrary

Writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz. Much of the time life is a sort of rhythmic progression of three characters. If one tells oneself that life is like that, one feels it less arbitrary. ↗

— Francoise Sagan

#certain #characters #compare #feels #finding

Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, supposes laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist. ↗

— Charles de Secondat

#act #arbitrary #atheists #could #creation

You can build a statistical model and that's all well and good, but if you're dealing with a new type of financial instrument, for example, or a new type of situation - then the choices you're making are pretty arbitrary in a lot of respects. ↗

— Nate Silver

#build #choices #dealing #example #financial

Be just and if you can't be just, be arbitrary. ↗

— William S. Burroughs

#just #you

The decree of a coercive tribunal would not need to conform to the true standard of wages, the final productivity of social labor. It would introduce into distribution a genuinely arbitrary element, with a very large ultimate power to pervert the natural system. ↗

— John Bates Clark

#coercive #conform #decree #distribution #element

A lot of my movies were completely destroyed by the censors, who can be pretty arbitrary. They're not completely fair with how they treat one person vs. another. ↗

— Amy Heckerling

#arbitrary #censors #completely #destroyed #fair

Our work on light bulbs wasn't an arbitrary mandate. We didn't just pick a standard out of the air, or look for a catchy sounding standard like 25 by 2025 not based in science or feasibility. Instead, we worked with both industry and environmental groups to come up with a standard that made sense and was doable. ↗

— Fred Upton

#arbitrary #based #both #bulbs #catchy

One of the very basic ideas of Post-Modernism is rejection of arbitrary power structures. Different people are sensitive to different kinds of power structures. ↗

— Larry Wall

#arbitrary power #basic #different #different kinds #different people

Police in China can do whatever they want; after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don't have to obey their own laws. In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want - not only you, your whole family and all people like you. ↗

— Ai Weiwei

#any #arbitrary #china #clearly #crush

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place. ↗

— Margaret Mead

#arbitrary #contrasting #culture #diverse #each