under time pressure, they began to behave just as people do when they are highly aroused. they stopped relying on the actual evidence of their senses… - Malcolm Gladwell

[Practical intelligence is] practical in nature: that is, it's now knowledge for its own sake. It's knowledge that helps you read situations correctly and get what you want.

[Greenberg] knew that cultural legacies matter — that they are powerful and pervasive and that they persist, long after their original usefulness has passed. But he didn't assume that legacies are an indelible part of who we are. He believed that if the Koreans were honest about where they came from and were willing to confront those aspects of their heritage that did not suit the aviation world, they could change.

But the problem was, Sacks wasn’t comparing herself to all the students in the world taking Organic Chemistry. She was comparing herself to her fellow students at Brown. She was a Little Fish in one of the deepest and most competitive ponds in the country — and the experience of comparing herself to all the other brilliant fish shattered her confidence. It made her feel stupid, even