Kevin Kelly Quotes

You don’t marry a person, you marry a family.

Always be quick to give credit, and to take blame.

When you lend something, pretend you are gifting. If it is returned, you’ll be surprised and happy.

Work to become, not to acquire.

The world of our own making has become so complicated that we must turn to the world of the born to understand how to manage it.

the total amount of material we use per GDP dollar is going down, which means we use less material for greater value. The ratio of mass needed to generate a unit of GDP has been falling for 150 years, declining even faster in the last two decades. In 1870 it took 4 kilograms of stuff to generate one unit of the U.S.’s GDP. In 1930 it took only one kilogram. Recently the value of GDP per kilogram of inputs rose from $1.64 in 1977 to $3.58 in 2000 — a doubling of dematerialization in 23 years.

When making something, always get a few extras—extra material, extra parts, extra space, extra finishes. The extras serve as backups for mistakes, reduce stress, and fill your inventory for the future. They are the cheapest insurance.

In the network economy the more plentiful things become, the more valuable they become.

Reading to your children regularly is the best school they will ever get.

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 then once more. The third time’s answer is the one closest to the truth.

Take the stairs.

To write about something hard to explain, write a detailed letter to a friend about why it is so hard to explain, and then remove the initial “Dear Friend” part and you’ll have a great first draft.

As long as an idea stays in your head it is perfect. But perfect things are never real. Immediately put an idea down into words, or in a sketch, or as a cardboard prototype. Now your idea is much closer to reality because it is imperfect.

The best way to learn anything is to try to teach what you know.

To meditate, sit and pay attention to your breathing. Your mind will wander to thoughts. Then you bring your attention back to your breathing, where it can’t think. Wander. Retreat. Keep returning to breath, no thoughts. That is all.