These are some of my favourite quotes (/sentences that I can repeat to others to make myself sound wise) about human behaviour, creativity, innovation, personal development, and writing.
People can maintain a belief, however absurd, if surrounded by a group of like-minded thinkers
Daniel Kahneman
– Anything that’s in the world when you were born is normal and is just a natural part of the way the world works
– Anything that’s invented between when you’re 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it
– Anything that’s invented after you’re 35 is against the natural order of the world
douglas adams
People don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say
David Ogilvy
We don’t see people as they are. We see people as we are.
Anaïs Nin
Misconceptions disappear only if there is some equally simple but more relevant way of thinking to replace them
Hans Rosling
There are three diseases in life: Seriousness, Certainty, and Self-Importance
John Grinder
What we must remember above all in the education of our children is that their love of life should never weaken
Natalie Ginzberg
You are free to do whatever you want. You need only face the consequences
Sheldon Kopp
The trick to having good ideas is not to sit around in glorious isolation and try to think big thoughts. The trick is to get more parts on the table
Steven Johnson
We don’t know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our laptops
John Cleese
To be creative in one part of your life, you need every other part of your life to be stable
Robert Colvile
Chance favors the connected mind
Steven Johnson
The purpose of looking to the future is to disturb the present. It is only by being disturbed that we stand a better chance of shaping the future rather than being its victims
Gaston Berger
If you’re not looking forward five years and wondering how you’ll remain competitive, you’re looking backwards
ERIC schmidt
I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two.
Jeff Bezos
We study history not to know the future but to widen our horizons, to understand that our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable, and that we consequently have many more possibility before us than we imagine
Yuval Noah Harari
Pave the Cowpaths
Dan Lockton
Everybody is just winging it
Oliver Burkeman
Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you’re thinking about it
Daniel Kahneman
Only assign yourself to a position when you can equally argue the opposite view
Dan Dennett
Anything worth doing takes time
Mos Def
Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.
Angela Duckworth
You will be the same person in five years as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read
Charlie Jones
We are the sum of all people we have ever met; you change the tribe and the tribe changes you
DIRK WITTENBORN
To be interesting, be interested
Dale Carnegie
Be there where you are
Unknown
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity
simone weil
Being busy isn’t cool
tyler ward
If you’ve got a totally scheduled life, then there’s not much time to think about other people
sally phillips
That stuff that gets in the way of living your life? That’s your life
unknown
You can commute through life, believing everyone is getting in your way, or cruise through life, appreciating everything that’s in your immediacy
Rob walker
Where you focus your attention defines who you are
Ruby Wax
‘The defining characteristic that sets the massively successful apart is simply the belief that they are capable of achieving what they want.’
Craig Shapiro
The map is not the territory
Alfred Korzybski
Begin with the end in mind
Stephen Covey
It’s amazing what can be achieved when no-one minds who gets the credit
Howard Wilkinson
Humans dominate the planet not because the individual human is far smarter and more nimble-fingered that the individual chimp, but because it is the only species on Earth capable of co-operating flexibly in large numbers
Yuval Noah Harari
It’s better to be a launchpad than a retirement home
David Hieatt
Writing stories boils down to two things – paying attention to how real people around you behave, and then telling the truth about what you see
Stephen King
The scariest moment is always just before you start
Stephen King
Thanks for reading this, I really hope you enjoyed it. You can find me:
- In blog form at johnjsills.com/subscribe
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- In work mode at The Foundation
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