...When it comes to making your art—whether it’s music or writing or building a great company—you either really want it or you don’t. There is no easy way in, or out...

...risk management is about avoiding the mistake of betting so much you can lose it all—the mistake made by nearly every bank and hedge fund that ran into trouble in 2007 and 2008...

...It takes numerous encounters with positive people to offset the energy and happiness sapped by a single episode with one asshole...

...When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact...

...introverts are “geared to inspect” and extroverts “geared to respond.”...

...Life is about execution rather than purpose...

...There is a legend that Pablo Picasso was approached in the park by a woman who insisted he paint her portrait. He looked her over for a moment, then, with a single stroke, drew her a perfect portrait. “You captured my essence with one stroke. Amazing! How much do I owe you?” “Five thousand dollars,” Picasso replied. “What? How could you want so much? It only took you a few seconds!” “No, ma’am. It took me my entire life and a few more seconds.”...

...Self-control is an exhaustible resource...

...Being brave is about facing physical or mental discomfort with courage...

...Wealth is more often the result of hard work, perseverance, and most of all self-discipline...

...there are only four basic factors that determine how good your food will taste: salt, which enhances flavor; fat, which amplifies flavor and makes appealing textures possible; acid, which brightens and balances; and heat, which ultimately determines the texture of food...

...Systematize your decision making...

...This insight is that sleeping soundly, eating smarter, moving more, and thinking clearly are all interconnected...

...The Predators’ Ball dramatically captures American business history in the making, uncovering the philosophy of greed that has dominated Wall Street in the 1980's...

...As Levitt sees it, economics is a science with excellent tools for gaining answers but a serious shortage of interesting questions. His particular gift is the ability to ask such questions...

...Good is the enemy of great...

...The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it - Michelangelo...

...Yet the real enigma of life is not what happens after you die but what happens before you die...

...There are two things that determine how our lives turn out: the quality of our decisions and luck...

...Why knowledge of what needs to be done frequently fails to result in action or behavior consistent with that knowledge. We came to call this the knowing-doing problem - the challenge of turning knowledge about how to enhance organizational performance into actions consistent with that knowledge...