When someone is not there all the time it gives us space to think about them. Your job in influence and persuasion is to get the other person to think about you or your product without you forcing yourself upon them or without you making them think about you.

Things like reading a book or learning a language, or taking a walk - they're not stimulating. Your mind has to sort of learn how to deal with that kind of stimulation on its own. So that's a very important form of adversity.

Though men determine, the gods doo dispose: and oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip.

True genius, in strategy or anywhere, lies in self-control, self-mastery, presence of mind, fluidity of thought.

It's sometimes hard to talk about politics and art. Obviously, I have my core beliefs, but I think art is best when it's troublesome and pushes against stuff.

The quiet mind is richer than a crown....Such sweet content, such minds, such sleep, such bliss beggars enjoy when princes oft do miss.

No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you.