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?

If you think advantage lies in resources, then you think the best educational system is the one that spends the most money.

...mediocre people find their way into positions of authority...because when it comes to even the most important positions, our selection decisions are a good deal less rational than we think.

Re-reading is much underrated. I've read The Spy Who Came in from the Cold once every five years since I was 15. I only started to understand it the third time.

The injunction to be nice is used to deflect criticism and stifle the legitimate anger of dissent.

The difference isn't resources, it's attitude.

When it's easy to make money, you have no incentive to think about development of talent.