Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician and physicist who lived from 1623 to 1662. He died young, but wrote a lot or memorable stuff. Here are my 2 favorite quotes from Pascal:

Pascal often ended his scientific papers with humorous remarks. At the end of a lengthy letter to a fellow mathematician, Pascal wrote: “I am sorry that this letter is so long, but I did not have the time to write a shorter one.”

From ‘The Art of Persuasion’: “People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of evidence but on the basis of what they find attractive.” I think that this accurately describes how politicians, both liberals and conservatives, come to their positions. A good example of this is the National Helium Reserve.

During World War 1, the Germans bombed England using zeppelins. Back in those days, airplanes were too small and flimsy to fly across the English Channel with bombs. In 1925, the U.S. government started buying and stockpiling helium just in case the next big war was fought with zeppelins. Although it was obvious by the 1930s that zeppelins were technologically obsolete, the U.S. government continued buying large quantities of helium every year until 1996. Even though it made absolutely no sense at all for the U.S. to be stockpiling helium for zeppelin warfare in this day and age, for congressmen from helium producing states, it makes perfect sense! Incidentally, the largest zeppelin in the world is housed at San Francisco Airport. It was built in Germany but does not carry bombs.