Success is not a function of individual talent. It's the steady accumulation of advantages. It's bound up in so many other broader circumstantial, environmental, historical, and cultural factors.

if we can control the environment in which rapid cognition takes place, then we can control rapid cognition

Bad improvisers block action, often with a high degree of skill. Good improvisers develop action.

What is learned out of hard work and trial is inevitably more powerful than what is learned easily.

Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.

There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible. All you have to do is find it.

To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages today that determine success--the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history--with a society that provides opportunities for all.