Rodney Stark Quotes

Men in their late 50s often make very bad decisions.

Humans have a tendency towards short-term thinking.

Oh, if I could put some of my reckless spirit into these discreet cautious lazy men!

I was always the kid at school who thought it was a good idea to set off the fire alarm. And much as I'm aware that that's a trait which also propels other things which are good, I wish I could just pause and go, 'Is this really what you want to do?'

Sure, I did a lot of things in excess. But if you look at the core, the foundation of what I pursued, what red-blooded young American male in my position wouldn't?

I've heard it said that the most dangerous animal on the planet is the adolescent male.

I got some news for you. One, there is no Jesus. Two, there is no God. Three, mind your own business and everything works out.

Sometimes I think that the biggest difference between men and women is that more men need to seek out some terrible lurking thing in existence and hurl themselves upon it. Women know where it lives but they can let it alone.

I got more guts than brains, and that's my problem.

My childlike qualities sometimes lead me to jump into projects without thinking of the consequences.

Youth is impulsive. When our young men grow angry at some real or imaginary wrong, and disfigure their faces with black paint, it denotes that their hearts are black, and that they are often cruel and relentless, and our old men and old women are unable to restrain them. Thus it has ever been.

I think there's something in the human psyche that we're titillated by the person who flies too close to the candle and their wings get singed.

I think that the romantic impulse is in all of us and that sometimes we live it for a short time, but it's not part of a sensible way of living. It's a heroic path and it generally ends dangerously. I treasure it in the sense that I believe it's a path of great courage. It can also be the path of the foolhardy and the compulsive.

I'm very impatient. I am. That's the bane of my game. I don't think about what I'm going to do - I just go hit it, I don't stop to wait and think. Costs me two shots a round.

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet

Rash indeed is he who reckons on the morrow, or happily on days beyond it; for tomorrow is not, until today is past.

I don't think through anything I do. I just do it, and it's oftentimes landed me in huge amounts of trouble.

In general - especially in my youth - I was a bit wild.

Had I been older - maybe 25 or 30 - I would have never tried half the things I did because I would have rationalized everything and never did it.

Obviously, when you're in your early twenties, you don't think about your decisions and their long term effects.

I don't think about consequences too much.

Some people will go for the quick joke and not pay attention to the consequences.

If you're a foolhardy, braggadocio male figure who wants to charge forward in every fight, it has its pros and its cons, that's for sure.

At this point, I just do whatever... I want, to my detriment.

I've always been a little out of control since I was a kid.