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?

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.

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.

I interviewed one of the most powerful lawyers in the world and he told me, "At the time, it was the worst thing in the world not to be able to get a job at a fancy law firm, but it's the greatest thing that ever happened in my life." It was a humble acknowledgment of how forces much larger than himself shaped his career. I really wanted to bring that point home.

The people at the top don't work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.

An aggressive drug-testing program would cut down on certain abuses, but its never going to catch everyone - or even close to everyone.

You can't concentrate on doing anything if you are thinking, “What's gonna happen if it doesn't go right?