14 quotes
Irrationality is the square root of all evil.
If the meanings of true and false were switched, this sentence wouldn't be false.
I Am a Strange Loop (2007)
In fact, a sense of essence is, in essence, the essence of sense, in effect.
Metamagical Themas (1985)
The "Strange Loop" phenomenon occurs whenever, by moving upwards (or downwards) through levels of some hierarchial system, we unexpectedly find ourselves right back where we started.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
The nice thing about having a brain is that one can learn, that ignorance can be supplanted by knowledge, and that small bits of knowledge can gradually pile up into substantial heaps.
Le Ton beau de Marot (1997)
This type of paradox is quite characteristic of Zen. It is an attempt to "break the mind of logic".
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
Which statement seems more true: (1) I have a brain. (2) I am a brain.
The Mind's I with Daniel C. Dennett (1981)
No reference is truly direct—every reference depends on some kind of coding scheme. It's just a question of how implicit it is.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
Reality includes creating every real connection and reference.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
Perhaps the most concise summary of enlightenment would be: transcending dualism. … Dualism is the conceptual division of the world into categories … human perception is by nature a dualistic phenomenon—which makes the quest for enlightenment an uphill struggle, to say the least.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
Below Every Tangled Hierarchy Lies An Inviolate Level
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
One of the most important and fascinating of all computer languages is Lisp (standing for "List Processing"), which was invented by John McCarthy around the time Algol was invented.
Relying on words to lead you to the truth is like relying on an incomplete formal system to lead you to the truth. A formal system will give you some truths, but as we shall soon see, a formal system, no matter how powerful—cannot lead to all truths.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)