Wisdom in fragments

No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing.

Author of "Breath" & Investigative Journalist on Respiratory Science

Suddenly, your intuition about what to build is much more likely to be right because you're building what's missing in the future. You're tinkering with technologies first hand, understanding what's new about them firsthand, and understanding what's missing to fulfill and actualize their full potential firsthand.

Venture capitalist and early-stage investor, founder of Founders Fund

My favourite question when evaluating a startup idea is, 'Is this from the future?' I'm not interested in your ideas about the future; I want to understand why you are living in it today. Why are you living in a different future right now than other people are?

Venture capitalist and early-stage investor, founder of Founders Fund

If you want to have a great startup idea, don't try to think of a startup. If you focus on creating a startup, you'll be grounding yourself in the present, studying customers living in the present, their problems in the present, and their unmet needs in the present.

Venture capitalist and early-stage investor, founder of Founders Fund

Most of the time, startup ideas don't work. Most of the time, the world stays as it is. The status quo has an advantage; it has a built-in upper hand. For a startup to win, it has to be not merely better than what's there; it has to propose something radically different, something that never could have existed before.

Venture capitalist and early-stage investor, founder of Founders Fund

It's about finding the right balance between being bold, patient, and persistent. For me, it's about not thinking it's crazy to reach out to an Oscar winner or a billionaire, but realizing it takes patience and time.

My first ask in any meeting wasn't for money or to put their name on something; it was simply for a second meeting, an opportunity to show them what we're doing and what we're building.

I told my dad from the beginning, we're fighting both disease and doubt, and we have to tackle them simultaneously.

For me, it's about the power of storytelling. Everything we do is rooted in story. People resonate with stories. I can't tell you how many times I've sat with some of the most famous or richest people in the world, and when you share a story, you can see them reflecting on their own families, their own experiences.

I woke up every day both inspired and terrified by the thought of building something from scratch and helping to save lives. It's a pretty good way to live, being both inspired and terrified.

It's important to note that this isn't just limited to the regimes people often worry about—like Russia, China, Iran, or Venezuela. It's also happening with regimes that are nominal partners of the United States.

Some foreign dictatorial regimes are bypassing traditional lobbying shops altogether and directly recruiting sitting members of Congress to act as foreign agents.

What we're seeing is a broad constellation of nominally independent subsets, even entire industries, that have now come under the umbrella of the foreign lobbying industry. All of these entities have been transformed into go-to vehicles and mouthpieces for foreign regimes.

For years, one group of Americans has worked as foot-soldiers for the most authoritarian regimes around the planet. In the process, they've not only entrenched dictatorships and spread kleptocratic networks, but they've secretly guided U.S. policy without the rest of America even being aware.

Taking breaks can help us re-engage with the things we've grown accustomed to. Many people experience this when they go away for a business trip and return home, suddenly appreciating their family, home, and even the view from their window more than before.

Neuroscientist known for research on optimism bias and decision-making

There are situations that we could potentially change. However, due to habituation, we might not notice them as much. This also applies to societal issues like racism or sexism—because they've been present for so long, we might not notice them as much and therefore feel less motivated to address them.

Neuroscientist known for research on optimism bias and decision-making