Malcolm Gladwell Quotes

A book, I was taught long ago in English class, is a living and breathing document that grows richer with each new reading.

There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible. All you have to do is find it.

Any fool can spend money. But to earn it and save it and defer gratification — then you learn to value it differently.

being able to act intelligently and instinctively in the moment is possible only after a long and rigorous of education and experience

We are all of us not merely liable to fear, we are also prone to be afraid of being afraid, and the conquering of fear produces exhilaration.…The contrast between the previous apprehension and the present relief and feeling of security promotes a self-confidence that is the very father and mother of courage.

Working really hard is what successful people do...

the 10,000hr rule is a definite key in success

We cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don't matter at all.

You can’t concentrate on doing anything if you are thinking, “What’s gonna happen if it doesn’t go right?

For almost a generation, psychologists around the world have been engaged in a spirited debate over a question that most of us would consider to have been settled years ago. The question is this: is there such a thing as innate talent? The obvious answer is yes. Not every hockey player born in January ends up playing at the professional level. Only some do – the innately talented ones. Achievement is talent plus preparation. The problem with this view is that the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger role preparation seems to play.

"The particular skill that allows you to talk your way out of a murder rap, or convince your professor to move you from the morning to the afternoon section, is what the psychologist Robert Sternberg calls "practical intelligence." To Sternberg, practical intelligence includes things like "knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for for maximum effect.

It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.

What is learned out of necessity is inevitably more powerful than the learning that comes easily.

Basketball is an intricate, high-speed game filled with split-second, spontaneous decisions. But that spontaneity is possible only when everyone first engages in hours of highly repetitive and structured practice — perfecting their shooting, dribbling, and passing and running plays over and over again — and agrees to play a carefully defined role on the court. . . . spontaneity isn't random.

Outliers are those who have been given opportunities — and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.