My favorite quote is Yogi Berra’s “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” I know I’m supposed to pick something noble, Marcus Aurelius on mortality or Maya Angelou on courage, the stuff people put on canvas prints above their couches. But those quotes are advice, and advice slides right off me. Yogi’s line is different. It’s a complete logical impossibility that is also, somehow, perfectly true. Every popular restaurant, every viral trend, every beach in July proves it.

That’s the magic of a great quote: it shouldn’t survive contact with grammar, yet it explains the world better than a shelf of philosophy. I’ve tested this. Quote Aristotle at a party and people nod politely. Quote Yogi and someone always says “wait, that doesn’t make sense,” and then, ten seconds later, “actually, it does.”

Wisdom you have to argue into people is fine. Wisdom that sneaks in is better. Nobody quotes Yogi anymore. He’s too quotable.