Tim Urban Quotes

“Almost nothing you’re socially scared of is actually scary.”

“Atheism isn’t a growth model any more than “I don’t like rollerblading” is a workout strategy.”

“Be humbler about what [you] know, more confident about what's possible, and less afraid of things that don't matter.”

“Gen-Ys are delusional; Most people are not special—otherwise “special” wouldn’t mean anything. Even right now, most of Gen-Ys reading this are thinking, “Good point. But I actually am one of the few special ones”—and this is the problem.”

“Humans are smart enough that they know how insignificant they are. We are the only species on Earth that can conceive of either our own insignificance or our own death. Indeed, I am a microscopic particle here for only a brief moment who knows that I am a microscopic particle here for only a brief moment. A person is a speck of nothing who materializes for a split second, realizes where it stands in the scheme of time and space, understands that it will soon disappear back into nothingness for eternity, says “Wait, what the hell?”, and then disappears into nothingness for eternity.”

“Humility is by definition a starting point—and it sends you off on a journey from there. The arrogance of certainty is both a starting point and an ending point—no journeys needed.”

“I think generally people’s thinking process is too bound by convention or analogy to prior experiences. It’s rare that people try to think of something on a first principles basis. They’ll say, “We’ll do that because it’s always been done that way.” Or they’ll not do it because “Well, nobody’s ever done that, so it must not be good.” But that’s just a ridiculous way to think. You have to build up the reasoning from the ground up—“from the first principles”.”

“If I know that I am the tiniest speck of dust around for a split second only, then why was I so upset when my fantasy football team lost on Sunday?”

“In 150 years, all 7,100,000,000 people alive today will be dead, but all of our genes will be doing just fine, living in other people.”

“Insecurity can be solved the hard way or the easy way—and by giving people the easy option, dogmatic tribes remove the pressure to do the hard work of evolving into a more independent person with a more internally-defined identity.”

“Instead of a blank canvas, school hands kids a coloring book and tells them to stay within the lines.”

“Learning, for Elon Musk, is simply the process of downloading data and algorithms into your brain. Among his many frustrations with formal classroom learning is the ridiculously slow download speed of sitting in a classroom while a teacher explains something, and to this day, most of what he knows he’s learned through reading.”

“Over time, big industries tend to get flabby and uncreative and risk-averse—and if the right outsider company has the means and creativity to come at the industry with a fresh perspective and rethink the whole thing, there’s often a huge opportunity there.”