Kevin Kelly Quotes

Always demand a deadline because it weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. A deadline prevents you from trying to make it perfect, so you have to make it different. Different is better.

To build strong children, reinforce their sense of belonging to a family by articulating exactly what is distinctive about your family. They should be able to say with pride, “Our family does X.”

We are not a body that carries a soul. We are a soul that is assigned a body, not of our choosing, but in our care.

The consistency of your endeavors (exercise, companionship, work) is more important than the quantity. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what you do occasionally.

Learning probability and statistics is far more useful than learning algebra and calculus.

Small steps matter more when you play a long game because a long horizon allows you to compound small advances into quite large achievements.

Productivity is often a distraction. Don’t aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible. Instead aim for better tasks that you never want to stop doing.

If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room. Hang out with, and learn from, people smarter than yourself. Even better, find smart people who will disagree with you.

Be frugal in all things, except in your passions. Select a few interests that you gleefully splurge on. In fact, be all-around thrifty so that you can splurge on your passions.

You will thrive more—and so will others—when you promote what you love rather than bash what you hate. Life is short; focus on the good stuff.

When you are stuck, make a long list of everything that cannot possibly work. On that list will be a seed that leads to a solution that will work.

Work on your tone. Often ideas are rejected because of the tone of voice they are wrapped in. Humility covers many blemishes.

This is the best time ever to make something. None of the greatest, coolest creations 20 years from now have been invented yet. You are not late.

In a genuine survival situation, you can go 3 weeks without food, and 3 days without water, but only 3 hours without warmth or shade. So don’t worry about food. Focus on temperature and water.

Your flaws and your strengths are two poles of the same traits. For instance, there is only a tiny difference between stubbornness and perseverance or between courage and foolishness. The sole difference is in the goal. It’s stupid stubbornness and reckless foolishness if the goal does not matter, and relentless perseverance and courage if it does. To earn dignity with your flaws, own up to them, and make sure you push on things that matter.