"A thing is robust if it survives variability."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Focus on signal over noise."
— Elon Musk
"People work better when they know the goal."
— Elon Musk
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty."
— Douglas Adams
"Secrets hide in plain sight."
— Peter Thiel
"If you want to create and capture lasting value, don’t build an undifferentiated commodity."
— Peter Thiel
"Contrarian thinking is not rebellion; it’s clarity."
— Peter Thiel
"Meaningful relationships come from meaningful work."
— Ray Dalio
"The people who can destroy a thing, they control it."
— Frank Herbert
"Governments, if they endure, always tend toward aristocratic forms."
— Frank Herbert
"Creativity is just connecting things."
— Steve Jobs
"Real artists ship."
— Steve Jobs
"The single most powerful pattern I have noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places."
— Peter Thiel
"Persistence is very important."
— Elon Musk
"The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Time waits for no one; neither should ambition."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"It’s really hard to design products by focus groups."
— Steve Jobs
"The future will not arrive by accident."
— Peter Thiel
"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly."
— Steve Jobs
"We want to be number one in everything."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Big dreams create big nations."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
— Douglas Adams
"Life is wasted on the living."
— Douglas Adams
"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
— Steve Jobs
"Principles are ways of successfully dealing with reality."
— Ray Dalio
"Focus is about saying no."
— Steve Jobs
"You either evolve or you die."
— Ray Dalio
"Systems outlast people."
— Ray Dalio
"Make your mistakes small."
— Ray Dalio
"Great things are built by small teams."
— Elon Musk
"Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is even rarer."
— Peter Thiel
"If you need inspiration, don’t do it."
— Elon Musk
"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."
— Steve Jobs
"Impossible is a word used by some people who fear to dream big."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Good principles compound."
— Ray Dalio
"I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary."
— Elon Musk
"Physics is the law; everything else is a recommendation."
— Elon Musk
"Don’t confuse what you wish were true with what is true."
— Ray Dalio
"We do not know the future, but we can create it."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"I want to put a ding in the universe."
— Steve Jobs
"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith."
— Steve Jobs
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
— Steve Jobs
"Control the environment, and you control the population."
— Frank Herbert
"The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"The fastest way to fail is to optimize for comfort."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"A Black Swan is an event that is rare, has extreme impact, and is retrospectively predictable."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Understanding is the first step to control."
— Frank Herbert
"A startup is the largest group of people you can convince of a plan to build a different future."
— Peter Thiel
"Technology is the systematic application of science."
— Peter Thiel
"Constantly seek criticism."
— Elon Musk
"Winners don’t make excuses."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"In the race for excellence, there is no finish line."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Monopolies drive progress because they can plan for the long term."
— Peter Thiel
"Be radically open-minded."
— Ray Dalio
"Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."
— Douglas Adams
"When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way."
— Frank Herbert
"Thoughtful disagreement is a gift."
— Ray Dalio
"What is fragile should break early, while it is still small."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Success comes from knowing how to manage pain."
— Ray Dalio
"We do not wait for opportunities; we create them."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
— Douglas Adams
"You shouldn’t do things differently just because they’re different."
— Elon Musk
"If you want to bankrupt a fool, give him information."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"You should focus relentlessly on something you’re good at, but before that you must think hard about whether it will be valuable in the future."
— Peter Thiel
"Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely; it attracts the corruptible."
— Frank Herbert
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
— Douglas Adams
"The universe is full of doors."
— Frank Herbert
"Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people."
— Steve Jobs
"If you want to build a nation, invest in people."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Courage is when you sacrifice your own well-being for the sake of others."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Never ask a barber if you need a haircut."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Indefinite optimism waits for the future to happen; definite optimism plans for it."
— Peter Thiel
"Stay hungry, stay foolish."
— Steve Jobs
"I believe that leadership is about serving people, not ruling them."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"The best part is no part."
— Elon Musk
"I’d far rather be happy than right any day."
— Douglas Adams
"The first step is to establish that something is possible."
— Elon Musk
"The problem with computers is that they are very sophisticated idiots."
— Douglas Adams
"Fear of failure should not stop you from trying."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"The problem with experts is not that they are wrong, but that they are confident."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42."
— Douglas Adams
"The sleeper must awaken."
— Frank Herbert
"There is an art to flying."
— Douglas Adams
"History repeats itself in cycles."
— Frank Herbert
"Build systems that work without you."
— Ray Dalio
"Details matter, it’s worth waiting to get it right."
— Steve Jobs
"Reality is frequently inaccurate."
— Douglas Adams
"Radical transparency creates trust."
— Ray Dalio
"We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works."
— Douglas Adams
"The biggest secret in venture capital is that the best investment in a successful fund outperforms the rest combined."
— Peter Thiel
"Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do."
— Steve Jobs
"Business is about substance, not form."
— Peter Thiel
"Never cross a river that is on average four feet deep."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Bureaucracy destroys initiative."
— Frank Herbert
"Iteration beats planning."
— Elon Musk
"Believability-weighted decision making beats hierarchy."
— Ray Dalio
"Modernity replaces ethics with legalism."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"The secret of success is persistence."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"You are not a lottery ticket."
— Peter Thiel
"Systems learn by stress."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Incrementalism is a trap."
— Peter Thiel
"The path to the CEO’s office should not be through the CFO’s office."
— Elon Musk
"I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don’t know the answer."
— Douglas Adams
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
— Steve Jobs
"The future remains uncertain."
— Frank Herbert
"Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice."
— Steve Jobs
"Bureaucracy is a construction by which a person is conveniently separated from the consequences of his actions."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Work like hell."
— Elon Musk
"Truth is more important than harmony."
— Ray Dalio
"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."
— Elon Musk
"Anything that happens, happens."
— Douglas Adams
"Charisma is a dangerous gift."
— Frank Herbert
"Founders should question received ideas."
— Peter Thiel
"Space is big. Really big."
— Douglas Adams
"Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles."
— Steve Jobs
"All rebels are closet aristocrats."
— Frank Herbert
"The impossible is possible for those who believe."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Survival is the ability to swim in strange water."
— Frank Herbert
"Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be."
— Frank Herbert
"What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
— Peter Thiel
"The future of books is very up in the air."
— Douglas Adams
"You never fully convince someone that they are wrong; you just wait until they die."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Startups are the last place where you can escape competition."
— Peter Thiel
"Progress requires bold decisions."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Law is a machine."
— Frank Herbert
"The best life is one lived in pursuit of truth."
— Ray Dalio
"Talent is extremely important."
— Elon Musk
"Vision without execution is hallucination."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Stability is seductive and dangerous."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"A bad plan is better than no plan."
— Peter Thiel
"Competition is for losers."
— Peter Thiel
"Our ambition must be unlimited."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"The biggest mistake is not learning from mistakes."
— Ray Dalio
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
— Douglas Adams
"Optimism, pessimism, fuck that — we’re going to make it happen."
— Elon Musk
"Power attracts the corruptible."
— Frank Herbert
"I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful is pure perseverance."
— Steve Jobs
"The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience."
— Frank Herbert
"He who controls the spice controls the universe."
— Frank Herbert
"Real innovation ends old industries."
— Peter Thiel
"Success is a continuous journey, not a destination."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Know your weaknesses and compensate for them."
— Ray Dalio
"The most valuable businesses are built on secrets."
— Peter Thiel
"Nothing is more powerful than a clear vision backed by action."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Robustness is resistance to shocks; antifragility is benefiting from them."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Embrace reality and deal with it."
— Ray Dalio
"Technology advances at such a pace that people often feel inferior to it."
— Douglas Adams
"The best way to predict the future is to create it."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Don’t be blind to your blind spots."
— Ray Dalio
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life."
— Steve Jobs
"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
— Steve Jobs
"When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor."
— Elon Musk
"If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day."
— Elon Musk
"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me."
— Steve Jobs
"Forecasting exists because people demand it, not because it works."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"You can love risk and yet be averse to ruin."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change."
— Elon Musk
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
— Douglas Adams
"The best decisions are made collectively but owned individually."
— Ray Dalio
"I don’t create companies for the sake of creating companies."
— Elon Musk
"You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."
— Steve Jobs
"Challenges make life interesting; overcoming them makes life meaningful."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"If you’re not adding value, stop."
— Elon Musk
"Globalization is copying; technology is doing new things."
— Peter Thiel
"Fear is the mind-killer."
— Frank Herbert
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
— Douglas Adams
"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."
— Douglas Adams
"Sales matters just as much as product."
— Peter Thiel
"My favorite things in life don’t cost any money."
— Steve Jobs
"Stability breeds stagnation."
— Frank Herbert
"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news."
— Douglas Adams
"Pain plus reflection equals progress."
— Ray Dalio
"Evolution is the greatest force in the universe."
— Ray Dalio
"Leadership is action, not position."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care."
— Frank Herbert
"Reality is driven by extremes, not averages."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"The future should inspire you."
— Elon Musk
"Excellence is a habit, not an event."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"The mind commands the body, and it obeys."
— Frank Herbert
"Design is more important than goals."
— Ray Dalio
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry."
— Douglas Adams
"The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax."
— Douglas Adams
"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected."
— Steve Jobs
"Don’t confuse schooling with education."
— Elon Musk
"Every moment in business happens only once."
— Peter Thiel
"The world belongs to those who show up."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time."
— Steve Jobs
"Dreams make good stories, but everything important happens when we are awake."
— Frank Herbert
"Complexity is fragile."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Simplicity is on the far side of complexity."
— Ray Dalio
"The greatest achievement is to inspire others."
— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
"Failure is essential to learning."
— Ray Dalio
"Seek freedom and become captive of your desires."
— Frank Herbert
"The most intolerant are those who believe themselves tolerant."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Risk is better than stagnation."
— Elon Musk
"Skin in the game is about fairness, commercial efficiency, and risk management."
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Don’t panic."
— Douglas Adams