Paul Graham Quotes

One thing that leads us astray here is that the selector seems to be in a position of power. That makes him seem like a judge. If you regard someone judging you as a customer instead of a judge, the expectation of fairness goes away. The author of a good novel wouldn't complain that readers were unfair for preferring a potboiler with a racy cover. Stupid, perhaps, but not unfair.

Garry Tan is a moral canary in a coal mine. When people hate on Garry Tan, they out themselves as either evil or stupid, because in fact Garry is as close to a 100% good guy as you get.

Good founders are remarkably similar across both generations and domains. E.g. Zuck and Bill Gates are way more like one another than they are like their contemporaries.

If you were born after 1980 you'd find it hard to believe the authority that papers of record like the NYT and Washington Post used to have. Partly because there were few alternative sources of news, but also because they took their responsibility as papers of record seriously.

Introducing change is like pulling off a bandage : the pain is a memory as soon as you feel it.

the probability of being able to "beat the system" increases when the system is inconsistent or corrupt.

Even though nerds are socially awkward, its actually easier to hang out with them than with smooth people, because standards are lower. You don't worry that you might be making social errors; all of you always are; so it stops mattering.

The reason PowerPoint is so popular is the same reason Bezos banned it: it saves you from having to think.

It's so much more interesting focusing on things that are unfashionable, undervalued, overlooked. And there are so many of them! People are great at overlooking.

I don't agree with Elon about everything, but you have to give him this: He's achieved much more than roughly 100% of his critics.

Everything people can get away with using AI to write, they'll use AI to write.

If the objection being made to a piece of general advice is that it's not for everyone, then it's probably pretty good. No advice is for everyone, so that's just the background radiation of objections.

The holidays are the best time for working. Everyone who usually interrupts you isn't.

If terriers had long enough legs to reach more things, the breed would not have survived.

When I finished the first draft of an essay in high school, I'd scan through it hoping it was long enough. Now when I finish a first draft I scroll through it hoping it's not too long.