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

Performance ought to improve with experience, and pressure is an obstacle that the diligent can overcome.

I have a new way of doing things, and I don’t care if you think I’m crazy.

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.

Our intuitions, as humans, aren't always very good. Changes that happen really suddenly, on the strength of the most minor of input, can be deeply confusing.

Character isn't what we think it is or, rather, what we want it to be. It isn't a stable, easily identifiable set of closely related traits, and it only seems that way because of a glitch in the way our brains are organized. Character is more like a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together and dependent, at certain times, on circumstance and context.

The great accomplishment of Jobs's life is how effectively he put his idiosyncrasies - his petulance, his narcissism, and his rudeness - in the service of perfection.