If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

That’s it! That’s it! Flaming globes of Sigmond! Flaming Globes of Sigmond! That’s my note! That’s what I thought was so funny… That’s not funny. There’s nothing funny about that.

When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp.

Back, and to the left.
Back, and to the left.

Life is better down where it’s wetter.

At Google HQ:
Boss: “So… this Reddit integration you’ve been working on?”
Developer: “Yeah, I think the first milestone could be ready in about six months.”
Boss: “Sorry, that’s been decided, go-live is in 1.5 days.”

Few people realize that a) burn-out has a high probability of recidivism; b) it changes the body, too. You develop a plethora of new nerve endings that fire discomfort and pain and that take years to diminish once you’ve made it through the acute phase.
You totally, literally become crippled by the system, and some people set themselves up for it willingly, kamikaze-style, thereby raising the bar for all others as well.

See also: System justification

♫ I’m a walking nightmare, an arsenal of doom
I can kill conversation as I walk into the room
I’m a three line whip, I’m the sort of thing they ban
I’m a walking disaster, I’m a demolition man ♫

A lot of men wear anklets