The act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty.

I don't think people are averse to thinking about things in a deep way, but we have limited time and opportunity to think about things in a deep way. I think that's why there is an appetite for non-fiction - it gives people the opportunity to reexamine ordinary experience and be smarter about it.

There will be statues of Bill Gates across the Third World. There's a reasonable shot that - because of his money - we will cure malaria.

Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard.

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

Our world requires that decisions be sourced and footnoted, and if we say how we feel, we must also be prepared to elaborate on why we feel that way...We need to respect the fact that it is possible to know without knowing why we know and accept that - sometimes - we're better off that way.

Sometimes constraints actually create success. Not being able to swim made me run. And running taught me the discipline I needed as a writer.