Paul Graham Quotes on Personal Growth
About Paul Graham
A computer scientist, writer and essayist, entrepreneur and investor. His work includes the programming language Arc, the startup Viaweb (later renamed Yahoo! Store), co-founding the startup accelerator and seed capital firm Y Combinator, a number of essays and books, and the media webpage Hacker News.
Quote
If you want to do good work, what you need is a great curiosity about a promising question.
Insight
Strong work starts from wanting to understand something deeply, not from forcing yourself to work hard.
Actionable Takeaways
- Write one question you genuinely can't stop wondering about.
- Replace aimless browsing with researching your question.
Insight
Without writing, thinking becomes vague—writing is not just expression but a tool for clarity.
Actionable Takeaways
- Start a daily writing habit – Spend 10 minutes each day writing about a problem, idea, or belief to clarify your thinking.
- Use writing to make decisions – Before making a tough choice, write out the pros, cons, and assumptions to expose hidden logic gaps.
- Revisit what you wrote – Review your past writings weekly to spot patterns, refine ideas, and challenge your own evolving logic.