A study at the University of Utah found that if you ask someone why he is friendly with someone else, heโll say it is because he and his friend share similar attitudes. But if you actually quiz the two of them on their attitudes, youโll find out that what they actually share is similar activities. Weโre friends with the people we do things with, as much as we are with the people we resemble. We donโt seek out friends, in other words. We associate with the people who occupy the same small, physical spaces that we do.
Malcolm GladwellThe biggest mistake we make is trying to square the way we feel about something today with the way we felt about it yesterday. You shouldnโt even bother doing it. You should just figure out the way you feel today and if it happens to comply with what you thought before, fine. If it contradicts it, whatever. Life goes on.
Malcolm GladwellAnyone who has ever scanned the bookshelves of a new girlfriend or boyfriend- or peeked inside his or her medicine cabinet- understands this implicitly; you can learn as much - or more - from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to a public face.
Malcolm GladwellWhen I see someone who reads something of mine and draws something out of it that's very different from my perspective, I think that's actually cool. Sometimes it's worrisome when you feel they badly misinterpret it, but it just says that they're thinking, and they're bringing their own interpretation to bear on it. [...] That's part of the wonderful thing about putting words into the world, and if I was worried about that, I couldn't be a writer.
Malcolm Gladwell