Oliver Emberton Quotes

“Asking a question is like carving a tiny hole in your mind. Without thinking about it, slowly, your brain will work to fill the hole.”

“Be careful you don’t become so good at lying that you forget to improve the truth.”

“Conforming to other people’s anger is caving to the most stupid part of their nature.”

“Do not for a second believe it is enough to ‘work hard’. Hard work is not inherently a good thing. Hard work is a disgusting waste of your life when it’s thrown at the wrong things.”

“Don’t sweat the bad ideas. Everyone has bad ideas. We’re only ever remembered for our good ones.”

“Ideas are cheap, fleeting things; by itself an idea is worth less than a half-eaten sandwich. At least you can eat the sandwich.”

“If you think success will make you happy, you have it backwards.”

“If you want to follow your dreams, you have to say no to all the alternatives.”

“If you’re not pissing someone off, you probably aren’t doing anything important.”

“If your reasons are complicated, they’re almost certainly excuses.”

“Ignore. It’s rude, unprofessional and often utterly necessary. There are people you won’t find time to reply to. There are requests you will allow yourself to forget. The world won’t fall apart. The payoff is you get done what matters.”

“Like parenting, the only people who think leadership is easy are the people who haven’t tried it.”

“Most people spend their money to get the most utility – fun, food, whatever. Entrepreneurs spend their money to make the most money.”

“Nearly all of the damage that is done by rejection is done by ourselves, to ourselves.”

“One of the most dastardly lies ever told is that 'winners never quit'. Total bunk and claptrap. Winners quit the right things. If anything, they quit more often.”

“Our brains are so clever they often outsmart themselves.”

“Success is your happiness measured by others, satisfaction is your happiness measured by you.”

“The biggest difference between success and failure is total time invested.”

“The most accomplished people are simply experts at what they choose to do, not how they do it.”

“The problem with looking at the successful for inspiration is what they do now isn’t what got them there. You’re liable to copy the wrong things.”

“The quality of your communication is one of the strongest indicators people will use when judging you; it can make a smart kid sound stupid, or an idiot sound vaguely intelligent.”

“The solution to making better choices is to impair our freedom.”

“The truth of something has little to do with it being accepted as fact. Most universally held ‘truths’ have an altogether different standard: people find them palatable.”

“The worst time to think of ideas is when you’re trying to think of ideas.”

“There’s always tomorrow, until there’s not.”

“We surrender much of our life to the most vapid crap imaginable, simply because someone else asks us to.”

“What unsung compliment could someone give you now, that would make your mind explode with delight? How much would you appreciate the person who said it? Now do that to someone else.”

“Writing a novel is a lot like losing your virginity. You’re naked, you’re hoping to press the right buttons, but there’s an excellent chance your audience will simply laugh and walk away.”

“You are in competition with every other distraction on the Internet. Your beautifully written sonnet must joust for attention against Miley Cyrus with a kitten.”

“You can do anything, if you stop trying to do everything.”