There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag – and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty-and vice versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you.

What we see in people is determined, in large part, by what we expect to find.

We shall never have friends, if we expect to find them without fault.

One thing seems more and more evident to me now — people’s basic character does not change over the years … Far from improving them, success usually accentuates their faults or short-comings. The brilliant guys at school often turn out to be not so brilliant once they are out in the world. If you disliked or despised certain lads in your class you will dislike them even more when they become financiers, statesmen or five star generals. Life forces us to learn a few lessons, but not necessarily to grow.

Preparation is never wasted, regardless of outcome.

Good code is not just a “beautiful” code. It's code you can modify fast. That speed is crucial for the business and the key to building a successful product.

The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.

If you don’t know where you are, you probably don’t know who you are.

Halving requirements is the same as doubling capacity.

Running one mile has more in common with running a marathon than sitting at home.

Investing $100 has more in common with being a millionaire than being broke.

Writing one sentence has more in common with writing a book than never writing one.

It always feels small in the beginning and the big goals seem far away. It's easy to talk yourself out of the early attempts because they feel kind of meaningless.

But every race starts with one step. Every fortune starts with a small deposit. Every book begins as one sentence.

The real question is not "What is my current position?" but rather, "What is my current trajectory?" Doing nothing builds nothing. Put yourself on the path to something better. Start small, but make sure you start.

You may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get it into your power.

He who does not enjoy solitude will not love freedom.

The pursuit of detail is the religion of success.

All engineering is reverse engineering if you document things poorly enough.

Economics is now playing the role of Catholic theology in Medieval Europe. It has become an ideology that tells people that the world is what it is because it has to be, however unjust, wasteful and inefficient it may look.

It is not that we have a deficit of resources. We have a surplus of greed.

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.

Old fires leave warm ashes, until someone stirs them again.

There they gave me a hefty shot of morphine, and in a little while the pain left. More than the pain left. All my troubles, all my concerns, all my worries left. I lay there, I remember, facing the wall, in complete peace. It wasn’t euphoria; it was better than euphoria; it was quiet, calm nirvana. I didn’t feel bored. I didn’t have to think. I just lay there at rest. Neither before nor since have I ever felt so free of all the endless indignities of life.

Military mind remains unparalleled as a vehicle of creative stupidity.