For perspective: Western philosophy basically began with Thales of Miletus. Only 4 sentences that remained. Post more bangers.

"It is only in relation to the external world that the various actions of a consciousness can be experienced, grasped, defined, or communicated. Awareness is awareness of something. A contentless state of consciousness is a contradiction in terms. Two fundamental attributes are involved in every state, aspect, or function of a man's consciousness: content and action - the content of awareness and the action of consciousness in regard to that content." Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

"Thus the process of forming and applying concepts contains the essential pattern of two fundamental methods of cognition: induction and deduction. The process of observing the facts of reality and of integrating them into concepts is, in essence, a process of induction. The process of subsuming new instances under a known concept is, in essence, a process of deduction." Ayn Rand Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

“Two links between the conceptual and the mathematical fields are worth noting at this point, apart from the obvious fact that the concept “unit” is the base and start of both: 1. A concept is not formed by observing every concrete subsumed under it and does not specify the number of such concretes. A concept is like an arithmetical sequence of specifically defined units going off in both directions, open at both ends, and including all units of that particular kind. For instance, the concept "man" includes all men who live at present, who have ever lived, or will ever live. 2. The basic principle of concept formation (which states that the omitted measurements must exist in some quantity but may exist in any quantity) is the equivalent of the basic principle of algebra, which states that algebraic symbols must be given some numerical value but may be given any value. In this sense and respect, the perceptual awareness is the arithmetic, but the conceptual awareness is the algebra of cognition. Ayn Rand Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

"There is evidence to suppose that written language originated in the form of drawings - as the pictographic writing of the Oriental peoples seems to indicate. With the growth of man's knowledge and of his power of abstraction, a pictorial representation of concepts could no longer be adequate to his conceptual range and was replaced by a fully symbolic code." Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

"A child learns to count when he is learning his first words, and in order to proceed beyond the stage of counting his ten fingers, it is the conceptual level of his consciousness that man has to expand." Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

"The purpose of measurement is to expand the range of man's consciousness of his knowledge beyond the perceptual level: beyond the direct power of his senses and the immediate concretes of any given moment. Man can perceive the length of one foot directly. He cannot perceive 10 miles. By establishing the relationship of feet to miles, he can grasp and know any distance on Earth. By establishing the relationship of miles to light years, he can know the distances of galaxies." Ayn Rand Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

"This is the key, the entrance to the conceptual level of man's consciousness. The ability to regard entities as units is man's distinctive method of cognition, which other living species are unable to follow. Thus the concept "unit" is a bridge between metaphysics and epistemology: units do not exist qua units. What exist are things, but units are things viewed by a consciousness in certain existing relationships. With the grasp of the implicit concept "unit," man reaches the conceptual level of cognition, which consists of two interrelated fields: the conceptual and the mathematical. The process of concept formation is in large part a mathematical process." Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

"The problem might appear to be esoteric. Let me remind you that the fate of human societies, of knowledge, of science, of progress, and of every human life depends on it. What is at stake here is the cognitive efficacy of man's mind." Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

“The issue of concepts, known as the problem of universals, is philosophy's central issue. Since man's knowledge is gained and held in conceptual form, the validity of man's knowledge depends on the validity of concepts. But concepts are abstractions, or universals, and everything that man perceives is particular, concrete. What is the relationship between abstractions and concretes? To what precisely do concepts refer in reality? Do they refer to something real, something that exists — or are they merely inventions of man's mind, arbitrary constructs or loose approximations that cannot claim to represent knowledge?” Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

"When you complete your screenplay, you've accomplished a tremendous achievement. You've taken an idea, expanded it into a dramatic or comedic storyline, then sat down and spent several weeks or months writing it, inception through completion. It's a satisfying and rewarding experience. It's been your best friend and your worst enemy. It keeps you up nights and lets you sleep like a baby. "True art is in the doing of it," Jean Renoir.” Syd Fields Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

"Hollywood is a 'dream factory,' a town of talkers. Go to any of the various hangouts around town, and you'll hear people talking about the scripts they're going to write, the movies they're going to produce, and the deals they're going to make. It's all talk. Action is character, right? What a person does, and not what he says, is who he is." Syd Fields Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

Yan Lecun is a second-hander who smells of farts and resentment.

“A film editor I once interviewed provided me with an important creative principle. He said that within the context of the story, the things you try that don't work will always tell you what does work. It's a classic film rule. Many of the best cinematic moments happen by accident. A scene tried that doesn't work when first tried will ultimately tell you what does work. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.” Syd Field, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

"The essence of character is action- action is character. Film is behavior. What a person does, and not necessarily what he/she says, is who he/she is. Your character acts, and somebody reacts. Action-reaction, reaction-action - your story always moves forward to that plot point at the end of each act. The essence of character is action. Your character must act, not merely react. Again, what a person does, and not what he/she says, is who he/she is. This needs to be established immediately, from page one, word one." Syd Field Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

Happy Birthday Dr. Leonard Peikoff. I cannot estimate the number of hours I have spent reading your words and listening to your lectures. Thank you for teaching me.

Happy birthday Leonard Peikoff.

"Remember Henry James: "What is character but the determination of an incident? What is incident but the illumination of character?" You can't reveal a character dramatically or comically unless you have him/her react to a particular incident. The nature of drama, after all, is to show the universal connection between all humans, regardless of race, color, gender, or cultural differences." Syd Fields Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting