My sig has, for a long time, read “The whole plan relied on the innate curiosity of the potato”. I wrote this down on a piece of paper at some point in my teens – I heard it on the radio and thought it was the most fantastic quote ever. Years later I found it – and still thought it was the best quote ever; but had no idea of context. Despite that I replaced my then sig (“Je suis en retard pour la classe parce que j’étais retenu par religieuses renégates sur les roue”) with it – just because it fitted me so well.
Eventually after annoying countless people by informing them that I had no idea where it came from, I was informed it was a quote by Stanislaw Lem. I just found out that he died today. My respects to an author I’ve never read, but fully intend to.
