Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL Interviews the world's leading thinkers, and the people shaping the century.

600+
Interviews
3,000+
Quotes
1m+
Readers
15+
Years
Nobel
Laureates & World Leaders

You know what to do. So why aren’t you doing it? In this interview, I speak to NYT bestselling author Nir Eyal — the man who wrote the book on habits, then the book on focus — argues the missing variable isn’t discipline or strategy. It’s belief. And belief, it…

 

Award-winning environmentalist Natalie Kyriacou OAM, author of Nature’s Last Dance, challenges our most fundamental assumptions about human intelligence, progress, and our relationship with nature — making a compelling case that wonder, storytelling, community, and active hope are our most powerful tools in the race against extinction.

 

World-renowned development economist Paul Collier has spent his life working in neglected communities. In this interview, we discuss his new book Left Behind, where he offers his candid diagnosis of why some regions and countries are falling further behind, and a new vision for how they can catch up. In…

 

In this interview I speak to Ben Lamm, the Co-Founder and CEO Of Colossal Biosciences (the world’s first de-extinction company) which he founded alongside world-renowned geneticist and serial biotech entrepreneur George Church, Ph.D. Colossal are the first business to apply CRISPR technology for the purposes of species de-extinction and work…

 

In this interview, I speak to Professor Paul Eastwick, Professor of Psychology at UC Davis, where he serves as head of the Social-Personality Psychology program and director of the Attraction and Relationships Research Laboratory. He has published over one hundred scientific articles and chapters, and his research has been featured…

 

Axiom is an AI company on a mission to build a self-improving, superintelligent reasoner, starting with an AI mathematician. The company launched out of stealth in 2024 with $64 million in seed funding at a $300 million valuation led by B Capital.  The Axiom team includes renowned AI and mathematics experts…

 

In this interview I speak to Rachel Botsman- author, designer, and lecturer renowned for her work on trust and societal change. A leading expert in the field, she has written three influential books—What’s Mine Is Yours, Who Can You Trust?, and How to Trust & Be Trusted—translated into 14 languages. As a…

 

Explore an archive of more than 3,000 quotes.

I think life matters because it gives meaning to the universe. Without life, the universe is devoid of meaning. We aren't the universe, but we are a vital part of it, we are what gives this universe meaning.

— Tim Peake
British Astronaut & ISS Expedition Commander

Within each of us is a deep, complex network of capillaries, veins and arteries which extend a distance equivalent to more than 3 times the circumference of the Earth, and because our body has lost its conditioning to nature, our hearts have to pump 20-30 times a minute more than if we regularly exposed our body to cold water.

— Wim Hof
Extreme athlete known for ice exposure & breathing technique methods

There's something beautiful, open and present about using the human voice. We've lost the dynamics of audio over the last 30 years because of compressed music formats, radio and different genres of music.

— Penn Jillette
Magician, Illusionist & Half of Penn & Teller Duo

If you use a complex system approach which doesn't have a fixed period of time in the model, it enables you to start exploring what types of animals you will see! It's classifying the elephants in the room - it may not tell you which one will come, but it will give you a better idea of what is out there in terms of risk.

— Professor Neil Johnson
Physics professor studying complex systems, crowd behavior, and social networks.

Because Peter Paul Rubens signed his name to his paintings (several of which were finished by his artisans), they commanded a higher price. Today, the famous contemporary glass artist, Dale Chihuly puts his name on every work of glass although he never makes any of it.

— Philip Kotler
Father of Modern Marketing & Prolific Management Author

Browse all quotes →

Long-form Interviews with the World's Leading Thinkers — Thought Economics


The Wisdom Series

Ten in-depth articles distilling insights from over 550 interviews with the world's leading thinkers, creators, and changemakers.

The Wisdom of Leadership The Wisdom of Entrepreneurship The Wisdom of Creativity The Wisdom of Technology The Wisdom of Meaning The Wisdom of the Mind The Wisdom of Justice The Wisdom of Science The Wisdom of Geopolitics The Wisdom of Health
Explore the Wisdom Series →