Naval Ravikant Quotes

Indian American entrepreneur and investor

Naval Ravikant (born November 5, 1974) is an Indian-born American entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder and chairman of AngelList, a platform for startups, investors, and job seekers. He is an angel investor who has made early-stage investments in companies including Uber, Twitter, Postmates, and Yammer.
Ravikant is a recipient of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. He also co-hosts a podcast with Brett Hall.

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There’s a friend of mine, a Persian guy named Behzad. He just loves life, and he has no time for anybody who is not happy. If you ask Behzad what’s his secret? He’ll just look up and say, “Stop asking why and start saying wow.” The world is such an amazing place. As humans, we’re used to taking everything for granted. Like what you and I are doing right now. We’re sitting indoors, wearing clothes, well-fed, and communicating with each other through space and time. We should be two monkeys sitting in the jungle right now watching the sun going down, asking ourselves where we are going to sleep. When we get something, we assume the world owes it to us. If you’re present, you’ll realize how many gifts and how much abundance there is around us at all times. That’s all you really need to do. I’m here now, and I have all these incredible things at my disposal. [8] The most important trick to being happy is to realize happiness is a skill you develop and a choice you make. You choose to be happy, and then you work at it. It’s just like building muscles. It’s just like losing weight. It’s just like succeeding at your job. It’s just like learning calculus. You decide it’s important to you. You prioritize it above everything else. You read everything on the topic.

Focus your awareness upon you, because you’re the easiest thing to overlook.

A future society will reunite the smart and the spiritual.

Sadly, I've never finished a business book in my life.

Hope is the belief that this moment isn’t good enough.

What are the most efficient ways to build new mental models? Read a lot — just read. [2] Reading science, math, and philosophy one hour per day will likely put you at the upper echelon of human success within seven years.

In the court of social media, context is inadmissible.

I was always ready to share, but before external success, nobody cared to listen.

Fastest way to usher in socialism is to ban capitalism for months at a time.

Your unlimited desires are clouding your peace.

Bureaucracy is the fungus that eats the state.

It’s not the thought that gets you, but the second thought.

If the work doesn’t require creativity, delegate it, automate it, or leave it.

There's a theory that I call 'the five chimps theory'.

In Zoology, you can predict the mood and behaviour patterns of any chimp by which five chimps they hang out with the most.

Choose your five chimps carefully.

It’s a rare creative who dares to be happy.