Without the New York Times, there is no blog community. They'd have nothing to blog about.

If you are going to do something truly innovative, you have to be someone who does not value social approval. You can't need social approval to go forward. Otherwise, how would you ever do the thing that you are doing?

We prematurely write off people as failures. We are too much in awe of those who succeed and far too dismissive of those who fail.

The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But in fact they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot. It makes a difference where and when we grew up.

The answer is that the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.

being able to act intelligently and instinctively in the moment is possible only after a long and rigorous of education and experience

The face is not a secondary billboard for our internal feelings. It is an equal partner in the emotional process.