The excessive use of force creates legitimacy problems, and force without legitimacy leads to defiance, not submission.

What does it say about a society that it devotes more care and patience to the selection of those who handle its money than of those who handle its children?

... they were not really afraid. They were just afraid of being afraid.

Lesson Number One: The Importance of Being Jewish

When people in authority want the rest of us to behave, it matters—first and foremost—how they behave.

Incompetence annoys me. Overconfidence terrifies me.

Outliers are those who have been given opportunities—and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.

Whenever we have something that we are good at--something we care about--that experience and passion fundamentally change the nature of our first impressions.

Much of what we consider valuable in our world arises out of (these) one-sided conflicts. Because the act of facing overwhelming odds, produces greatness and beauty.

The real me isn't the person I describe, no the real me is the me revealed by my actions.

The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents. It comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our place in history presents us with.

Our acquaintances—not our friends—are our greatest source of new ideas and information. the internet lets us exploit the power of these kinds of distant connections with marvellous efficiency.

Happiness, in one sense, is a function of how closely our world conforms to the infinite variety of human preference.

Our power of thin-slicing and snap judgment are extraordinary.but even the giant computer in our unconscious need a moment to do its work.

Flom had the same experience...He didn't triumph over adversity. Instead, what started out as adversity ended up being an opportunity.

The poorer children were, to her mind, often better behaved, less whiny, more creative in making use of their own time, and have a well-developed sense of independence.

I think when one's working, one works between absolute confidence and absolute doubt, and I got a huge dallop of each.

To a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish.

Why are man hole covers around?" If you don't knwo the answer to the questions, you're not smart enough to work at microsoft

But so much of what is beautiful and valuable in the world comes from the shepherd, who has more strength and purpose than we ever imagine.

General intelligence and practical intelligence are "orthogonal": the presence of one doesn't imply the presence of the other.

Knowledge of a boy's IQ is of little help if you are faced with a formful of clever boys.

Extraordinary achievement is less about talent than it is about opportunity.

We have, in short, somehow become convinced that we need to tackle the whole problem, all at once. But the truth is that we don’t. We only need to find the stickiness Tipping Points,

The principle elements of a puzzle all require the application of energy and persistence, which are the virtues of youth. Mysteries demand experience and insight.

The contrast between the previous apprehension and the present relief and feeling of security promotes a self-confidence that is the very father and mother of courage.

Words belong to the person who wrote them

An innate gift and a certain amount of intelligence are important, but what really pays is ordinary experience.

. . . it is not possible to staff a large company without short people. There simply aren't enough tall people to go around.

Capitalization learning”: we get good at something by building on the strengths that we are naturally given.

All progress depends on the unreasonable man.

No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion.

[Practical intelligence is] practical in nature: that is, it's now knowledge for its own sake. It's knowledge that helps you read situations correctly and get what you want.

We all know that successful people come from hardy seeds. But do we know enough about the sunlight

The futility of something is not always (in love and in politics) a sufficient argument against it.

Underdog strategies are hard.

In the general American population, 3.9 percent of adult men are six foot two or taller. Among my CEO sample, almost a third were six foot two or taller.

I force myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.

A painting that doesn't shock isn't worth painting.

Words are the tools of 'to be' - of expression. They are completely built on the fact that you 'are,' and in order to express it, you have built a little alphabet, and you make your words from it.

I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products.

I don't believe in art. I believe in artists.

A game of chess is a visual and plastic thing, and if it isn't geometric in the static sense of the word, it is mechanical, since it moves. It's a drawing; it's a mechanical reality.

It is a matter of great indifference to me what criticism is printed in the papers and the magazines. I am simply working out my own ideas in my own way.

Humor and laughter - not necessarily derogatory derision - are my pet tools. This may come from my general philosophy of never taking the world too seriously - for fear of dying of boredom.

Tradition is the great misleader because it's too easy to follow what has already been done - even though you may think you're giving it a kick. I was really trying to invent, instead of merely expressing myself.

I am against the word 'anti' because it's a little bit like 'atheist,' as compared to 'believer.' And an atheist is just as much of a religious man as the believer is.

I was never interested in looking at myself in an aesthetic mirror. My intention was always to get away from myself, though I knew perfectly well that I was using myself. Call it a little game between 'I' and 'me.'

One must pass through the network of influence. One is obligated to be influenced, and one accepts this influence very naturally. From the start, one doesn't realize this. The first thing to know: one doesn't realize one is influenced. One thinks he is already liberated, and one is far from it!

What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist. It's not what you see that is art; art is the gap.