A cop out when writing about hard ideas (which I’m guilty of too) is to use evocative, poetic quotes to gesture at how you feel about an idea because it is too hard to say something clear about it, let alone original.
It’s the ++ version of opening with dictionary definitions
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I have a vast collection of evocative quotes about time, which I have to consciously resist using in this cop-out way.
Pro-tip If a quote, especially an opening quote, isn’t a prelude to a clearer, less poetic idea in the same spirit, don’t use it. It’s a crutch.
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what's an example of a hard idea (or maybe an idea that was once hard)
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“Time is nature’s way of making sure everything doesn’t happen at once” — physicist J. A. Wheeler in a 1990 paper on time, quoting Ray Cummings, 1920s scifi author.
Quote points to a real, tough idea in physics, which you could skirt with the quote in a pop essay.
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In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.
Paul Dirac
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