Children learn how to make good decisions by making decisions, not by following directions.

Very few things are as dangerous as a bunch of incentive-driven individuals trying to play it safe.

Maximum difficulty isn't the same as optimal difficulty.

Those who know they're valued irrespective of their accomplishments often end up accomplishing quite a lot. It's the experience of being accepted without conditions that helps people develop a healthy confidence in themselves, a belief that it's safe to take risks and try new things.

People will typically be more enthusiastic where they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community than they will in a workplace in which each person is left to his own devices

Punishments and rewards are two sides of the same coin and that coin doesn't buy you much.

Punishment and reward proceed from basically the same psychological model, one that conceives of motivation as nothing more than the manipulation of behavior.