Cold War teaches the same lesson as World War II and, for that matter, most wars in recent history. Don’t let a ruling class of warriors and politici… - Paul Graham

The same recipe that makes individuals rich makes countries powerful. Let the nerds keep their lunch money, and you rule the world.

What made the Florentines rich in 1200 was the discovery of new techniques for making the high-tech product of the time, fine woven cloth. What made the Dutch rich in 1600 was the discovery of shipbuilding and navigation techniques that enabled them to dominate the seas of the Far East.

The world changes fast, and the rate at which it changes is itself speeding up. In such a world it's not a good idea to have fixed plans.

"If you're too inexperienced to start a startup, what you should do is start one. That's a way more efficient cure for inexperience than a normal job. In fact, getting a normal job may actually make you less able to start a startup, by turning you into a "tame animal" who thinks that he needs an office to work in and a product manager to tell him what software to write."