Johnny von Neumann enjoyed thinking. I have come to suspect that to most people, thinking is painful.

Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the furthest thing from it.

More often than not, the person is the problem, not the incentive system. No incentive system turns mediocre into extraordinary.

Marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world. This is a very noisy world. And we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear what we want them to know about us. One of the greatest jobs of marketing the universe has ever seen is Nike. Remember Nike sells a commodity. They sell shoes. And yet when you think about nike …. In their ads they don’t ever talk about the product. ... What does Nike do in their advertisements? They honour great athletes. That’s who they are. That’s what they are about. Our customers want to know who is Apple and what is it we stand for. Where do we sit in this world. What we’re about isn’t making boxes for people to get their jobs done …

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.

If my critics saw me walking over the Thames, they would say it was because I couldn't swim.

The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. - A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short.

The task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet; but to think what nobody has thought yet, about that which everybody sees.

Patients derive a certain satisfaction from their sufferings.

It seems to me, that if we love, we grieve. That's the deal. That's the pact. Grief and love are forever intertwined. Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable.

When you treat people like idiots, they’ll behave like idiots.

You absolutely need habits to function. You cannot solve every problem in life as if it is the first time it’s thrown at you.

The best way to learn is rewriting.

I generally try to avoid people and situations that put me in bad moods, which is good advice whether you care about productivity or not.

Some rich people keep working hard because they love doing what made them rich. I've found three other types (not mutually excl): the ambitious who keep moving the goalposts, the creatives who keep finding new passions and the Calvinists who are afraid to not be working hard.

I personally experience the three types differently: the ambitious are inspiring, creatives are fun and Calvinists are draining.

Common causes of bad decisions:

1. Assumptions based on small sample sizes
2. Wanting the world to work the way we want rather than the way it does
3. Conforming to expectations/authority/group (social default)
4. Blindness to large trends (blind spots)
5. Not asking, "and then what?"

If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.

Clear writing gives poor thinking nowhere to hide.

An hour before 9 is worth 2 after 5.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.