Wisdom in fragments

Your corporate's social responsibility is to win. You cannot be generous from an empty wagon! This nonsense about giving when you're broke is ridiculous. Corporate responsibility, first and foremost, is to win. You can then take those resources from winning and allocate them as you see fit.

Former CEO of General Electric; Pioneered "Jack Welch Management" Techniques

In my experience, great advisors are the ones who give you the scaffolding to observe your gut-instinct from every angle and arrive at decisions which allow you to flourish.

There is no such thing as true-altruism (even philanthropists get something out of giving!). What is this individuals' payoff from working with you?

Much like whiskey, advice is best when it's of a high-quality, with provenance, and in short amounts. Have too much? And you're likely to be on the floor unable to make any good decisions.

Had the first astronauts or explorers listened to advice, chances are they would never have embarked on those world-changing adventures. The same is true of entrepreneurs. First and foremost, entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs because their gut had an insight or an idea that's driven them.

We crystallize and store knowledge in specialised sounds and language, and then play with it – build and forge and mould it and model with it – using it to grip hold of the past and to imagine and plan the future.

The brains of our ancestor Homo sapiens were the same as our brains. How to draw, how to write, how to think, have all been learned, sometimes with great difficulty, and the learning has been passed on.

Out of our cleverness has emerged something almost more important than the cleverness itself. Out of it has come learning about how to share ideas and pass down skills and knowledge. Out of it has come education.

We are the same people, physically: today, we have no additional neurons, no better wiring. But our tools for thinking – our ideas, hypotheses, theories, models – are marvellously improved. The only reason we are better at thinking and doing things now is that we accumulate knowledge and pass ideas and information from one generation to the next.

If you go to any rave, or any football event, you will find people chanting in a rhythm- human beings do that. We have this sense to participate and organise- Music lets you rediscover your humanity, and your connection to humanity. When you listen to Mozart with other people, you feel that somehow- we're all in this together.

Acclaimed film composer known for scores like The Lion King and Inception

We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans- because we can… We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings… That's why we paint, that's why we dare to love someone- because we have the impulse to explain who we are.

Renowned poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist; author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Physicist who developed the theory of relativity and E=mc².

Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes...

Leader of Catholic Church for 27 years; advocated for human rights and peace

The sleep revolution is finally hitting the workplace. The business world is waking up to the high cost of sleep deprivation on productivity, health care, and ultimately the bottom line. I expect the nap room to soon become as universal as the conference room.

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate

Sleep became not just devalued but actively scorned. After all, every hour spent sleeping was another hour spent not working—therefore another wasted hour.

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate

When we're not well rested, we're not as healthy. Lack of sleep is often the culprit behind anxiety, stress, depression, and a myriad of health problems.

Co-Founder of The Huffington Post & Wellness Advocate