“It's difficult to describe to people who aren't curious, just what curiosity is. Imagine explaining to a robot or a computer what curiosity is! For those of us who experience it however, it's almost a primal-pull.”
— Adam Riess
Astrophysicist who discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe

The quote archive

Health

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

Soldiers don't get post-traumatic stress on the battlefield, they get it when they get return. When you're there, on the battlefield, life is simple. You have a mission, a purpose, a direction, and you're trying to survive. When you come home, that's when you have to reconcile your humanity with who you are.

— Benjamin Sledge

Individuals who are creative are sensitive, they can be vulnerable and can take things incredibly personally – often they are putting the rawest version of themselves out there so when that's criticised it can be really difficult and damaging. We try to put ourselves in our client's shoes and champion empathy as a team.

— Mary Bekhait

My actual definition to describe mental fitness is your ability to remain in a neutral to positive state for most of your day, regardless of what the day is throwing at you and that is not the state people are in nowadays.

— Jody Michael

By encouraging them to pay attention as they overeat, we can reduce the reward value of that habit to zero in just 10-15 sessions of eating. These are people who could have been overeating for decades, but their behaviour can change quickly.

— Judson Brewer

Neuroscientist & Expert on Habit Change and Mindfulness-Based Treatments

Neuroscience shows us that habit formation is based on how rewarding something is, not willpower. Willpower isn't even in the equation. We like to think of willpower is something, but it's more myth than muscle.

— Judson Brewer

Neuroscientist & Expert on Habit Change and Mindfulness-Based Treatments

I've never had a patient come in after I told them to pay attention to smoking who was full of joy at how delicious cigarettes taste and smell, they often come in and balk at how they didn't notice it sooner.

— Judson Brewer

Neuroscientist & Expert on Habit Change and Mindfulness-Based Treatments

Only one second in time you can find peace – now. There's only one second you can be happy – now. There's only one place you can find peace and happiness. Where you are. This is it, it's not out there somewhere, it's in you.

— Marshall Goldsmith

World's Most Cited Executive Coach & Leadership Development Expert

Philosophy is not an anaesthetic, like it's just going to make the pain go away. But there is great solace in really understanding why chronic pain is difficult. Understanding those things can be consoling in itself, in part because it overcomes the isolation of illness.

— Kieran Setiya

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

We flee from affliction the way an animal flees from death. There's a sense in which it's perfectly natural that our response to difficulty in life is aversive. We're only going to be able to live well with the difficulties of life if we face up to them, because they're difficult.

— Kieran Setiya

Harvard philosophy professor specializing in ethics and meaning

Four days before she died, she challenged my daughter and I to try and find a pocketful of happiness in each day, which has become the mantra by which we navigate the abyss of grief, following her death. I don't think you ever get over grief, you just have to find a way to accommodate and travel around it.

— Richard E. Grant

British actor known for Withnail and I and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Working with the world's best athletes forced us to build the most accurate technology, and not to cut any accuracy or performance corners. Pro athletes helped to remove the stigma around health monitoring and make it something aspirational instead.

— Will Ahmed

That's the future of medicine… being able to see a doctor before something happens, not after… seeing a doctor when you need to, not on some random annual check-up day once a year. Data can create a real story for how the body is evolving and what's happening right at this very moment.

— Will Ahmed

A less experienced, less comfortable, version of myself would get angry and then realise they were angry. The meditative version of me can anticipate when I'm going to get angry- and then, it becomes a choice. Do you want to be angry? Or have a different attitude?

— Will Ahmed

The potential of wearable health monitoring is enormous, and under appreciated by a lot of society, because version-1 of wearables were – to put it politely – underwhelming. The health care industry spends a lot on curative costs… and if you shift the curative to the preventative, you can save a tonne of money and have better outcomes.

— Will Ahmed

The microbiome is taking up space, so it is not letting the viruses and the bad bacteria come, adhere to the tissue and then grow. To conclude these are the two mechanisms. It's very simple.

— Dr. Kourosh Maddahi

The oral care industry and oral products is mainly made out of three or four companies that control 90% of oral care products in the world. All multibillion-dollar, multinational companies. I don't think these companies are stupid. They are run by very intelligent people, but I think the premise has been wrong.

— Dr. Kourosh Maddahi