Quotes

There is no better teacher than history in determining the future.

—  Charlie Munger

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Never risk what you have and need for what you don’t have and don’t need.

—  Warren Buffett

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An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

—  Benjamin Franklin

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The Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.

—  Warren Buffett

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The Measure of Intelligence is The Ability to Change.

—  Albert Einstein

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The greatest people are self-managing. They don’t need to be managed. Once they know what to do, they’ll go figure out how to do it. What they need is a common vision, and that’s what leadership is.

—  Steve Jobs

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Charlie and I look for companies that have (a) a business we understand; (b) favorable long-term economics; (c) able and trustworthy management; and (d) a sensible price tag.

—  Warren Buffett

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We all are learning, modifying, or destroying ideas all the time. Rapid destruction of your ideas when the time is right is one of the most valuable qualities you can acquire. You must force yourself to consider arguments on the other side.

—  Charlie Munger

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There’s a big difference between probability and outcome. Probable things fail to happen—and improbable things happen—all the time. That’s one of the most important things you can know about investment risk.

—  Howard Marks

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I think it’s important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. [With analogy] we are doing this because it’s like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing. [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there.

—  Elon Musk

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Great execution is at least 10 times more important and a 100 times harder than a good idea.

—  Sam Altman

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.

—  Richard Feynman

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To sum up what mamba mentality is, it means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself.

—  Kobe Bryant

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The first rule of compounding is to never interrupt it unnecessarily.

—  Charlie Munger

Time in the market beats timing the market.

Ask yourself who you’d want to spend the last day of your life with and then meet with them as often as you can.

—  Warren Buffett

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Every person in your company is a vector. Your progress is determined by the sum of all vectors.

—  Elon Musk

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Fast iteration can make up for a lot; it’s usually ok to be wrong if you iterate quickly. Plans should be measured in decades, execution should be measured in weeks.

—  Sam Altman

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Knowledge isn't free. You have to pay attention.

—  Richard Feynman

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Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.

—  Charlie Munger

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Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.

—  Warren Buffett

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I think the definition of greatness is to inspire the people next to you.

—  Kobe Bryant

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When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

—  Elon Musk

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Stay small until you figured out what's working.

—  Naval Ravikant

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If you want to master something, teach it. The more you teach, the better you learn. Teaching is a powerful tool to learning.

—  Richard Feynman

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Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

—  Albert Einstein

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The ideal business is one that earns very high returns on capital and could keep using lots of capital at those high returns. That becomes a compounding machine.

—  Warren Buffett

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Confidence comes from preparation.

—  Kobe Bryant

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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

—  Leonardo da Vinci

True mastery removes excess until only the essential remains.

No one errs or does wrong willingly or knowingly.

—  Socrates

People choose wrong because they believe it's right at the time. Mistakes come from missing knowledge, not bad character.

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

—  William Shakespeare

Real love sees inner qualities, not just surface appearance.

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

—  Ludwig Wittgenstein

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I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.

—  Abraham Lincoln

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Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

—  Benjamin Franklin

Passive input fades fast; active doing creates lasting skill.

You can’t blame gravity for falling in love.

—  Albert Einstein

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Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

—  Aristotle

Deep connection aligns values and direction.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

—  Thomas Edison

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You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong.

—  Warren Buffett

Avoiding big mistakes matters more than chasing brilliance.

I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better.

—  Elon Musk

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My belief is that risk is unquantifiable even after the fact.

—  Howard Marks

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Man is a being in search of meaning.

—  Plato

Purpose isn't found by waiting. It's built through what we choose to care about daily.

Anyone can become angry — that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way — this is not easy.

—  Daniel Goleman

Reacting is instant. Responding well requires practice, pause, and judgment you develop slowly.

Of course, you only live one life, and you make all your mistakes, and learn what not to do, and that's the end of you.

—  Richard Feynman

Wisdom is simply a collection of corrected errors accumulated over a lifetime.

If you're afraid to fail, then you're probably going to fail. Pain doesn't tell you when you ought to stop. Pain is the little voice in your head that tries to hold you back beacuse it knows if you continue you will change.

—  Kobe Bryant

Fear tricks you into quitting before growth can happen.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

—  Steve Jobs

Clarity comes after action, not before. Move first, understand later what it all meant.

Clear thinkers take feedback from reality, not society.

—  Naval Ravikant

Truth comes from testing your ideas in the world, not from counting heads who agree.

Assume life will be really tough, and then ask if you can handle it. If the answer is yes, you've won.

—  Charlie Munger

Resilience is built by preparing for the hard version of life.

Rule No. 1 is never lose money. Rule No. 2 is never forget Rule No. 1.

—  Warren Buffett

Avoiding loss beats chasing gains. Survival compounds into wealth. Spectacular returns don't matter if you're eliminated.

Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.

—  Arthur Schopenhauer

Live in the moment. Daily cycles mirror lifetime arcs. You practice living well by winning just one complete day.

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.

—  Bertrand Russell

You cannot experience deep connection while keeping one foot out the door for safety.

You have to dance beautifully in the box that you're comfortable dancing in. My box was to be extremely ambitious within the sport of basketball. Your box is different than mine. Everybody has their own. It's your job to try to perfect it and make it as beautiful of a canvas as you can make it. And if you have done that, then you have lived a successful life. You have lived with Mamba Mentality.

—  Kobe Bryant

True excellence means relentlessly expanding the edge of your strongest abilities.

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

—  Plato

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Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.

—  Richard Feynman

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You don't need mentors, you need action.

—  Naval Ravikant

Motion creates clarity faster than advice.

One of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there.

—  Steve Jobs

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Rest at the end, not in the middle.

—  Kobe Bryant

Stopping mid-task makes restarting harder. Momentum breaks. Finish first, then recover fully without mental debt.

We have a passion for keeping things simple.

—  Charlie Munger

Complexity is a hiding place for confusion. Simplicity forces clarity. You can't fake understanding with simple words.

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

—  Warren Buffett

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Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

—  John Lennon

Live in the present, as life often unfolds unexpectedly while we're focused on future plans.

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.

—  Arthur Schopenhauer

Resisting change wastes energy fighting the only constant. Adaptation isn't optional—it's the baseline requirement.

Inspiration is perishable and life goes by fast. Inaction is a particularly insidious type of risk.

—  Sam Altman

Inspiration decays faster than fruit. The gap between feeling ready and starting is where dreams die.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

—  Bertrand Russell

Conformity offers safety, but independent thinking offers the chance for discovery.

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

—  Plato

Bravery isn’t fearlessness—it’s accurate threat assessment: distinguishing real danger from imagined consequences. Clarity reduces anxiety.

What separates great players from all-time great players is their ability to self-assess, diagnose weaknesses, and turn those flaws into strengths.

—  Kobe Bryant

Feedback loops drive improvement.

Things get more refined as you make mistakes and do them. So I’ve had a chance to make a lot of mistakes.

—  Steve Jobs

Every error provides the data needed to refine the final product.

Read, reflect, love, seek truth, and ignore society. Build, sell, write, create, invest, and own.

—  Naval Ravikant

Cultivate your inner mind while building assets in the real world.

Love is a serious mental disease.

—  Plato

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You can't predict, but you can prepare.

—  Howard Marks

Prediction is a fantasy; readiness is a practice. Strong systems beat perfect forecasts.

Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.

—  Richard Feynman

Break learning rituals—chase curiosity anytime, anywhere, and dig deep.

Everyting negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.

—  Kobe Bryant

Problems reveal where you're weak; avoiding them keeps you weak, while engaging them directly creates the strength problems require.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

—  Aristotle

Identity is built through consistent behavior, not one-off effort. Excellence comes from small actions repeated until they become automatic.

It’s better to bet on the business than the manager.

—  Charlie Munger

Systems outlast heroes. Pick what works regardless of who runs it.

If you want to do good work, what you need is a great curiosity about a promising question.

—  Paul Graham

Strong work starts from wanting to understand something deeply, not from forcing yourself to work hard.

Investment success doesn't come from buying good things, but from buying things well.

—  Howard Marks

Success in investing isn't about finding popular or high-quality assets, but about purchasing any asset at the right price and timing.

Optimism, obsession, self-belief, raw horsepower and personal connections are how things get started.

—  Sam Altman

Success begins with positive thinking, intense focus, confidence in yourself, working extremely hard, and building meaningful relationships with others.

The best protection against inflation is your own personal earnings power. The best investment by far is anything that develops yourself.

—  Warren Buffett

Your ability to earn income and develop skills provides the strongest financial security and protection against economic changes.

Live each day as if it were your last.

—  Steve Jobs

Act with urgency and focus on meaningful priorities because life is unpredictable and time is limited.

Each 'failure' can get you one step closer to success.

—  Thomas Edison

Every failed attempt isn’t the end—it’s useful feedback that moves you closer to achieving your goal.

Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.

—  Arthur Schopenhauer

We often realize the true value of something only after it’s gone.

Compound yourself.

—  Sam Altman

Focus on growth that multiplies over time. Choose opportunities, careers, and habits that compound, avoid short-term distractions, and trust long-term exponential progress to create massive impact and advantage.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

—  Arthur Schopenhauer

Talent is excelling within the known rules, demonstrating a superior skill that others recognize but cannot replicate. Genius operates outside of those rules, creating something fundamentally new by seeing a possibility that was previously unimaginable to anyone else.

To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want.

—  Charlie Munger

The world does not give you what you wish for; it gives you what you have earned. Lasting success is a direct result of becoming the kind of person who is worthy of it by developing the necessary skills, knowledge, and character. It is a principle of cause and effect, not of luck or entitlement.

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

—  Albert Einstein

The ability to explain something simply is the ultimate proof of genuine understanding.

Love is given, not received.

—  Naval Ravikant

The genuine feeling of love is generated by the act of giving it, not by the reward of receiving it. It reframes love as an internal ability to express care freely, rather than a transaction where you expect something in return.

Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

—  John Rockefeller

Effective leadership is not about finding superstars, but about creating systems and providing clear guidance that enable ordinary people to produce exceptional work. It focuses on elevating a team's capabilities by unlocking its members' hidden potential through smart processes and coaching.

Compound interest is man's greatest invention.

—  Albert Einstein

The power of compounding is that growth builds upon itself, leading to exponential results. It suggests that consistent, small investments—whether of money, effort, or knowledge—can create extraordinary outcomes over time.

The young man knows the rules, the old man knows the exceptions.

—  Charlie Munger

Foundational knowledge is about understanding the established rules, while wisdom from experience is about recognizing when those rules don't apply. True mastery comes from understanding the context and exceptions that only time and practice can teach.

Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.

—  John Lennon

The true measure of a fulfilling life is not its duration or its hardships, but the quality of your relationships and the abundance of your joy.

Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

—  John Rockefeller

Achieving exceptional success requires the courage to leave a comfortable and secure situation in pursuit of a much higher, but less certain, reward.

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

—  Steve Jobs

True design isn’t just about appearance—it’s about function, usability, and problem-solving.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

—  Benjamin Franklin

Consistent hard work creates the opportunities that others mistake for luck.

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.

—  Bill Gates

Negative feedback reveals your biggest blind spots and offers the clearest path to improvement.

Failure often comes not from lack of ability, but from quitting just before a breakthrough.

—  Thomas Edison

Failure often comes not from lack of ability, but from quitting just before a breakthrough.

For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.

—  Benjamin Franklin

Good organization multiplies your time by reducing wasted effort and decision-making later.

Mr. Market is there to serve you. Not to guide you.

—  Warren Buffett

The stock market reflects emotions and fluctuations—not objective truth. It’s a tool for opportunity, not a source of wisdom or direction. You must think independently, not react impulsively.

The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence, it is to act with yesterday’s logic.

—  Peter Drucker

In uncertain times, the real threat isn’t change itself but relying on outdated thinking. Survival and success demand new perspectives, not old habits.

Productize yourself.

—  Naval Ravikant

Productize has specific knowledge and leverage. Yourself has uniqueness and accountability. Yourself also has specific knowledge.

When you lose the ability to write, you also lose some of your ability to think.

—  Paul Graham

Without writing, thinking becomes vague—writing is not just expression but a tool for clarity.

Do things that don't scale.

—  Paul Graham

In the very early stages of your startup, you should focus on doing tasks and activities that are highly manual, time-consuming, and personalized to get your first users and make them extremely happy.