Speak only if it improves upon the silence.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.

Knowledge will give you power, but character, respect.

Anything you don't understand, Mr. Rankin, you attribute to God. God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it.

Innovation is the distinction between a leader and a follower.

When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.

A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.

I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful. Lecturing to a group of students at Columbia U. He was 21 years old.

One’s objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out, and get it over... your problem won’t improve with age.

Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small _trivial_ project, and you should never expect it to get large. If you do, you'll just overdesign and generally think it is more important than it likely is at that stage. Or worse, you might be scared away by the sheer size of the work you envision. So start small, and think about the details. Don't think about some big picture and fancy design. If it doesn't solve some fairly immediate need, it's almost certainly over-designed. And don't expect people to jump in and help you. That's not how these things work. You need to get something half-way _useful_ first, and then others will say "hey, that _almost_ works for me", and they'll get involved in the project.