You can die from someone else's misery — emotional states are as infectious as diseases. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

If I could simplify the whole game of power and strategy in one equation, it would all hinge on the capacity to see events around you exactly as they are. The closer your mind is to reality, the better your strategies, your responses in life.

Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle and calculating ahead. Focus on your ultimate goal and plot to reach it.

In the past, Being able to follow what you're naturally "should" be good at was limited to a very few people in a country like the United States, It was white men who basically had the privileges - or, you name whatever country it is, there's some group of elites who, through various processes of democratization and things like the internet and the information that's available. It's exploding!

Understand: you are one of a kind. Your character traits are a kind of chemical mix that will never be repeated in history. There are ideas unique to you, a specific rhythm and perspective that are your strengths, not your weaknesses. You must not be afraid of your uniqueness and you must care less and less what people think of you.

Your work is the single greatest means at your disposal for expressing your social intelligence.

It's okay to be kind of looking for what you want and trying out all kinds of different ideas and different course work, etc.