Kevin Kelly Quotes Page 2

“Friends are better than money. Almost anything money can do, friends can do better. In so many ways a friend with a boat is better than owning a boat.”

“Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at.”

“Hatred is a curse that does not affect the hated. It only poisons the hater. Release a grudge as if it was a poison.”

“How do entrepreneurs survive their early failures? They don't view their failures as failures - they view these experiences as feedback, and a prelude to future success.”

“How to apologize: Quickly, specifically, sincerely.”

“I’m positive that in 100 years much of what I take to be true today will be proved to be wrong, maybe even embarrassingly wrong, and I try really hard to identify what it is that I am wrong about today.”

“If you are looking for something in your house, and you finally find it, when you’re done with it, don’t put it back where you found it. Put it back where you first looked for it.”

“If you are not falling down occasionally, you are just coasting.”

“If you desperately need a job, you are just another problem for a boss; if you can solve many of the problems the boss has right now, you are hired. To be hired, think like your boss.”

“If you lose or forget to bring a cable, adapter or charger, check with your hotel. Most hotels now have a drawer full of cables, adapters and chargers others have left behind, and probably have the one you are missing. You can often claim it after borrowing it.”

“It's generally much easier to kill an organization than to change it substantially.”

“Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even offend you. See if you can find the truth in what they believe.”

“Learn how to take a 20-minute power nap without embarrassment.”

“Never get involved in a land war in Asia.”

“Never use a credit card for credit. The only kind of credit, or debt, that is acceptable is debt to acquire something whose exchange value is extremely likely to increase, like in a home. The exchange value of most things diminishes or vanishes the moment you purchase them. Don’t be in debt to losers.”

“Nobody is as smart as everybody.”

“On vacation go to the most remote place on your itinerary first, bypassing the cities. You’ll maximize the shock of otherness in the remote, and then later you’ll welcome the familiar comforts of a city on the way back.”

“One of the functions of an organization, of any organism, is to anticipate the future, so that those relationships can persist over time.”

“Optimize your generosity. No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away.”

“Organisms by their design are not made to adapt too far.”

“Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems.”

“Perhaps the most counter-intuitive truth of the universe is that the more you give to others, the more you’ll get. Understanding this is the beginning of wisdom.”

“Promptness is a sign of respect.”

“Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes.”

“Reading to your children regularly will bond you together and kickstart their imaginations.”

“Rule of 3 in conversation. To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just said. Then again, and once more. The third time’s answer is close to the truth.”

“Rule of 7 in research. You can find out anything if you are willing to go seven levels. If the first source you ask doesn’t know, ask them who you should ask next, and so on down the line. If you are willing to go to the 7th source, you’ll almost always get your answer.”

“Saving money and investing money are both good habits. Small amounts of money invested regularly for many decades without deliberation is one path to wealth.”

“Separate the processes of creation from improving. You can’t write and edit, or sculpt and polish, or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don’t select. While you sketch, don’t inspect. While you write the first draft, don’t reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgement.”

“Show up. Keep showing up. Somebody successful said: 99% of success is just showing up.”