[vgatherps]

People who don't want to X can always find a reason not to, for any given X. Somebody might even talk about how they want to do X, and go through many of the motions and preparations, but always find some reason at the end to back out.

Is Paul's statement much different from the statement "talk is cheap"?

[JKCalhoun]

No, but I think the more salient point to his post is to underscore the previous reasons — all of which came to naught.

[sungho_]

No, if I had to nitpick, I'd say 'talk is expensive'. The original text doesn't say "Somebody might even talk about how they want to do X" like your comment, and it doesn't need to. But maybe someone who finds 'some reason not to do' will say it, and they won't actually do it.

(B has never said he wants to learn to code)

A: Do you have any plans to learn to code? It seems to be useful.

B: No.... (thinking) Well, AIs.

(And B doesn't learn to code in the real world)

Actually, this comments doesn't matter at all, but I leave it in for fun

[travisgriggs]

Though I think it should be “for any given Y”. As X refers to the thing avoided, and Y (or any variable other than X) would refer to the excuse given.

[travisgriggs]

Came here to say just this. Glad someone else saw it.