“It's essentially a democratic revolution, wresting control from the conventional gatekeepers like intelligence agencies and the media.”
— Eliot Higgins
Founder of Bellingcat, open-source investigation journalism network

The quote archive

Wisdom in fragments

A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.

We believe people don't have to fear the innovation age as being victims of it. They can actually embrace it by saying 'okay, I've got to have some additional skill sets I can go back to'.

— Edwin M. Lee

Mayor of San Francisco (2011-2018) & First Asian-American Mayor

People who are building don't want to simply test their ideas in a microcosm, they want to be successful in the real-world, and San Francisco is an international city with real world connections.

— Edwin M. Lee

Mayor of San Francisco (2011-2018) & First Asian-American Mayor

San Francisco is the city of love and compassion, will always be, and will never change that.

— Edwin M. Lee

Mayor of San Francisco (2011-2018) & First Asian-American Mayor

Even if we end up with better regulations, we'll still have 300 million guns washing around the US, and that's going to be a huge problem for decades, because guns last a long time.

— Nicholas Kristof

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

There are two key advantages of thinking of guns as a public health issue. First of all, it removes some of the emotion from the issue. Secondly it moves the debate to be about evidence; where we can empirically show what works, at what cost.

— Nicholas Kristof

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

The basic problem is that if you attempt to commit suicide with a gun, you typically succeed. It's also true that there is a more violent culture generally in the US. The US in general, has broader problems with crime, with social dysfunction, narcotics often, and all these work together with guns to create this epidemic.

— Nicholas Kristof

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

American history has bred a mythology of guns as being protection from an oppressive state. We're not alone however; Australia and Canada's gun ownership stems from a similar history, Switzerland has guns in almost every household- yet they haven't turned guns into this symbol of manhood in the way the US has.

— Nicholas Kristof

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & New York Times Columnist

This realization that everywhere you look is home and everywhere you look there is something new and beautiful and wonderful to discover. It is a real lesson in Earthling and Earth appreciation.

— Nicole Stott

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

I don't think I ever would have had the confidence in myself to even pick up the pen. I would have continued to believe that this wasn't something that could ever be real for me. That one small bit of encouragement had such a huge impact on my life. It made me realize how sometimes it really is the little stuff that's most important, and we never know how significant our encouragement can be in someone else's life.

— Nicole Stott

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

It absolutely never failed to amaze and lure me in. In fact, if I was at the window during the work day, I had to set a timer on my watch, because I would just get immersed in the view. It's like a transcendence; I just started doing meditation, and it's a little like that where you can just completely separate yourself and just be sucked into it.

— Nicole Stott

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

Everything is just crystal-clear and glowing. Our planet just glows with all the colours you know Earth to be made of, but in a way, that's almost transparent, iridescent. Seeing our planet from space is so much more than a visual experience, I think it's about feeling it, I think it really is about having a kind of spiritual connection to it, that you feel. Total awe, humbling.

— Nicole Stott

NASA Astronaut & ISS Expedition Crew Member

The entrepreneurs I like are the ones running real businesses without all the bullshit about the hype and the valuations. I've made the most money with people who put their nose to the grindstone and don't talk about valuation.

— Kevin O’Leary

Shark Tank investor, businessman, and former Canadian political candidate

The sacrifice is perhaps a decade- and it's a total sacrifice- you may not see your kids, you may miss an entire cycle of your lives, but you're doing it to provide for them in the future in a way you never could if you were an employee.

— Kevin O’Leary

Shark Tank investor, businessman, and former Canadian political candidate

Entrepreneurs that do it for greed of money fail. Entrepreneurship isn't about greed, it has nothing to do with that; what matters is personal freedom.

— Kevin O’Leary

Shark Tank investor, businessman, and former Canadian political candidate

What motivates great entrepreneurs is fear of failure; and here's the thing – most entrepreneurs fail several times before they achieve success, and the more you fail, the more fear you have.

— Kevin O’Leary

Shark Tank investor, businessman, and former Canadian political candidate

It taught me the difference between the two types of people in the world. Those that own the store, and those that scrape shit off the floor. You have to decide which one you want to be. I didn't want to scrape shit off the floor. I wanted to own the store.

— Kevin O’Leary

Shark Tank investor, businessman, and former Canadian political candidate