If it were possible to talk to the unborn, one could never explain to them how it feels to be alive, for life is washed in the speechless real.

Of true knowledge at any time, a good part is merely convenient, necessary indeed to the worker, but not to an understanding of his subject: One can judge a building without knowing where to buy the bricks; one can understand a violin sonata without knowing how to score for the instrument. The work may in fact be better understood without a knowledge of the details of its manufacture, of attention to these tends to distract from meaning and effect.

The one thing that unifies men in a given age is not their individual philosophies but the dominant problem that these philosophies are designed to solve.

I once worked as a salesman and was very independent. I took orders from no one.

Look for all fancy wordings and get rid of themAvoid all terms and expressions, old or new, that embody affectation.

Above all, the ability to feel the force of an argument apart from the substance it deals with is the strongest weapon against prejudice.

Highly-adaptive, informal networks move diagonally and eliptically, skipping entire functions to get things done.