If we did realize the difference between the vital few and the trivial many in all aspects of our lives, and if we did something about it, we could multiply anything that we valued.

Laziness is the road to progress, but only when it is allied to intelligent thought and high ambition.

There is no shortage of time. In fact, we are positively awash with it. We only make good use of 20 per cent of our time.... The 80/20 principle says that if we doubled our time on the top 20% of activities, we could work a two-day week and achieve 60 per cent more than now.

Strive for excellence in few things, rather than good performance in many.

I make it a personal rule never to do anything that I don't really care about. It is surprising how much this cuts out.

The few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured, and multiplied.

There is no rush. If we think intelligently about what we can achieve with our time, we can be relaxed, even lazy. In fact, being lazy - having plenty of time to think - may actually be a precondition for achieving a great deal.