People From New York City

"... Lenny Susskind ... is very well known for his technical work, for his popular work, for his semi-technical books, The Theoretical Minimum, and, within the physics community, as a storyteller, a mentor, and a guiding visionary of the field."

"My physics has been extremely mainstream, ... It's not true that I'm some sort of a [radical thinker], not at all."

"Most constants are adjusted with a deviation of one percent, which means that if the value differs by one percent everything collapses. Physicists can certainly claim that this is a fluke, but it must be acknowledged that this cosmological constant is adjusted to an accuracy of 1/10120. No one thinks that this is solely a fluke. It is the most extreme example of hyperfine regulation..."

"Elegance requires that the number of defining equations be small. Five is better than ten, and one is better than five. On this score, one might facetiously say that String Theory is the ultimate epitome of elegance. With all the years that String Theory has been studied, no one has found even a single defining equation! The number at present count is zero. We know neither what the fundamental equations of the theory are nor even if it has any."

"A straight line is a special case of a curve. It's a curve which is uncurved."

"The problem with general relativity is that the principles are pretty simple and the computations are always ugly."

"The standard SU(3)×SU(2)×U(1) theory of strong, electromagnetic, and weak interactions appears to correctly describe physics down to the smallest distance scales yet probed."

"Knowledge is a collection of facts. Wisdom is the use of knowledge. Without facts there is no knowledge. Without knowledge there is no wisdom. Facts prevent what nothing can cure. Facts are Man's best defense mechanism. Without them men fumble, falter and fail. Without them nations decline and fall. Wisdom wins wars before they start. Knowledge aborts national hostilities. Wisdom obviates racial antipathies. Knowledge effaces religious animosities. Emancipation from bigotry prefaces peace. Intolerance takes all and gives nothing. Peace rewards reciprocal respect and regard. To all Men of Good Will, "Pax Vobiscum!""

"Who knew it? President Wilson knew it. Colonel House knew it. Other's knew it. Did I know it? I had a pretty good idea of what was going on: I was liaison to Henry Morgenthau, Sr., in the 1912 campaign when President Wilson was elected, and there was talk around the office there."

"How much can you depend on their loyalty? You can depend upon their loyalty as much as the Germans depended upon it in 1916. And we're going to suffer the same fate as Germany suffered, and for the same reason."

"Let me show you what happened while we were all asleep."

"The word anti-Semitism is another word which should be eliminated from the English language. "Anti-Semitism" serves only one purpose today. It is used as a smear word. When so-called or self-styled Jews feel that anyone opposes any of their objectives they discredit their victims by applying the word anti-Semite or anti-Semitic through all the channels they have at their command and under their control. I can speak with great authority on that subject. Because so-called or self-styled Jews were unable to disprove my public statements in 1946 with regard to the situation in Palestine, they spent millions of dollars to smear me as an anti-Semite hoping thereby to discredit me in the eyes of the public who were very much interested in what I had to say. Until 1946 I was a little saint to all so-called or self-styled Jews. When I disagreed with them publicly on the Zionist intentions in Palestine I became suddenly Anti-Semite No. 1."

"It is an incontestable fact that the word "Jew" did not come into existence until the year 1775. Prior to 1775 the word "Jew" did not exist in any language. The word "Jew" was introduced into the English for the first time in the 18th century when Sheridan used it in his play "The Rivals", II,i, "She shall have a skin like a mummy, and the beard of a Jew". Prior to this use of the word "Jew" in the English language by Sheridan in 1775 the word "Jew" had not become a word in the English language. Shakespeare never saw the word "Jew" as you will see. Shakespeare never used the word "Jew" in any of his works, the common general belief to the contrary notwithstanding. In his "Merchant of Venice", V.III.i.61, Shakespeare wrote as follows: "what is the reason? I am a Iewe; hath not a Iewe eyes?"."

"The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again."

"To be a Naturalist is better than to be a King."

"The isness of things is well worth studying; but it is their whyness that makes life worth living."

"These descents of mine beneath the sea seemed to partake of a real cosmic character. First of all there was the complete and utter loneliness and isolation, a feeling wholly unlike the isolation felt when removed from fellow men by mere distance … . It was a loneliness more akin to a first venture upon the moon or Venus than that from a plane in mid-ocean or a stance on Mount Everest: no whit more wonderful than these feats, but different."

"Have you noticed that bank tellers are almost always very attractive? Is it because they're on display back there behind the glass so close and yet so far? Or is it like bartenders they have so much of what we want?"

"Money should never be the reason you ever do or don't do anything. I haven't paid rent in 3 months."

"Is it better to look classy or act classy? Act. But one follows the other."

"Trouble is a great deal of fun, and crimes committed without malice are usually forgiven among peers."

"All you have to do is put all other concerns aside and your fondest desire will come true. Unfortunately, 'all other concerns' includes your health, financial well-being, interpersonal relationships, and often any inkling of why you had this desire in the first place. Good luck!"

"What's the most important thing in the world? Walking the walk."

"You should live your life with an emphasis on accruing experiences and becoming cooler."

"Interviewer says "Maybe you can give us some chores that have to be done like Hercules had to do ten of them so maybe we could do ten of them""

"Interviewer says "How do you become a member of the World/Inferno Friendship Society?""

"Punk's an attitude. Punk's not three-chord rock. If you want to listen to three chord rock, there's southern rock."

"Everything's going to be okay, even though it's all terribly wrong."

"Interviewer says "Yeah, and I watched that but I actually was kind of like, terrified by the intensity of your fans and I was wondering if the intensity of your fans ever kind of scares you? I hear that they have a bunch of rules for what dances to do during certain songs…I was like ‘Oh God’.""

"It is every singer's ambition, whether they acknowledge it or not, to croon."

"It was great the way we changed the mind of the nation and fascism was defeated and all the troops were home by Christmas."

"What do you think makes a good rock front man? Shamelessness, I’d imagine."

"I know we live in troubled times, my friends, I know things which once stood up suddenly don't stand up anymore. I know that innocent people shopping or buying gas are often shot down, shot down for no reason. And it makes a nation nervous. Now, personally, I like the nation to be nervous. And in these nervous times, sometimes people come up to me, and they say, "Perhaps, Jack, you should tone down your rhetoric a bit. Perhaps, the stuff you say in between songs might be construed as, well, not very patriotic. Well, actually, Jack, you might get yourself in some big trouble." And I say to myself, "Oh! Trouble is my business, friend." In these uncertain times, it's not a good idea to give up on your values, and change your mind about the things you hold dear. It's not. I want to talk about someone who fell pretty damn hard, and this song is called "I Shot President Reagan, and I'm Gonna Do It Again and Again and Again and Again!""

"There's a shop on the next corner, North Six, between Wythe and Berry? I'd like you all to go smash it up. Now, if anyone asks you who told you to do this, I want you to keep mum. It was Franz."

"My older friends say, "I was in a punk band once, and we used to be pretty outraged. We would get pretty angry, we'd get a stomp going or something, we would rally against Reagan, or other elected officials. But now I am an older man, and I have some responsibilities, so I really cannot be excited. I appreciate Kurt Cobain, and I'm excited about all those bands that seem very angry, but—why would you keep doing this after all these years?" And I say, "Because I still hate you and I'm trying to prove to you that you're wrong." Because, really, if you're bored and you're listless, you just need to get yourself an enemy."

"What better place than this? What better choice than us?"

"People often ask me, "Jack, you're old. How do you manage to get out of the house and be so outraged and hop up and down so very often?" And of course, I respond, "Could you lend me ten bucks so I can buy some drugs?""

"My favorite wine is usually whatever is right in front of me."

"Where do you hear the songs? In the space between wake and passing out, the hiss down the left of the dial, the faces of the kids when we pull up to the show, in answering machine hang up messages, in glasses colliding, transmissions whining, where the music doesn't belong—where it lives. Everywhere, it's all I hear."

"If I am not doing something illicit, I feel absolutely naked."

"One does not have to be an honours grad in political science from Harvard University to recognise the unethical and inhumane nature of this administration but well, I happen to be an honours grad in political science from Harvard University, so I can confirm that for you"

"Thought hard about this next linePretty sure it's true.If you take a step towards freedomIt'll take two steps towards you."

"The skin you're in makes choices for you."

"You don't gotta be loud, son, to be heavy as shit!"

"Can you explain to the mothersAnd the fathers of thoseWho come riding home in coffinsIn their military clothes?"

"Yeah, I support my troopsThey wave black flagsThey wear black masksAll the roads are closedSmoke is rising from the fieldsThe monsters left their cagesAn angel set them free."

"Sacrifice and neon lights slave ships don't wait. Love many, trust few, and don't be late"

"In my nightmares the streets are aflame, and in my dreams it's much the same."

"It'll start with a spark, and a great fire will grow."

"When you live in a capitalistic society, the currency of the dissemination of information goes through capitalistic channels. Would Noam Chomsky object to his works being sold at Barnes & Noble? No, because that's where people buy their books. We're not interested in preaching to just the converted. It's great to play abandoned squats run by anarchists, but it's also great to be able to reach people with a revolutionary message, people from Granada Hills to Stuttgart."