“Technology is systematically undermining human weakness, the costs are huge. This is what degrades our quality of life and how we make sense of the world. This is what destroys our ability to form identity, to form relationships and make choices.”— Tristan Harris
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
When we look at a photograph, knowing that it is a photograph, we have a distinctive kind of experience: a visual confrontation with remote but actual objects and events.
— David BaileyPioneering British fashion photographer who revolutionized 1960s portrait photography
The best portraits happen when you strip away all the pretense, all the masks people wear, and you find that raw, honest moment. That's when magic happens.
— RankinScottish photographer and filmmaker known for provocative social documentary work
I've always believed that everyone can look like a magazine cover star. It's not about being born beautiful, it's about finding that moment, that light, that expression that makes you shine.
— RankinScottish photographer and filmmaker known for provocative social documentary work
We have been interested in celebrities since the dawn of time. Jesus was the first celebrity, then the royal families.... It's human nature to be interested in the captain of the football team, the head cheerleader or who is doing what with who. It's human nature to be curious about those we perceive to be in elevated positions; not necessarily positions of power.
— Perez HiltonCelebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website
The world of celebrity offers an escape from the real world, and offers different things to different people. To many, the celebrity world is aspirational, they imagine themselves living that lifestyle and dream of how it would be to go to that premiere, have that fancy house, or that expensive vacation. For others, the world of celebrity is like watching a car-wreck.
— Perez HiltonCelebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website
Art is necessary for the human mind. Art is about our dreams, fears, and imagination. Art is about everything outside of the system. It is a death sentence for art when it is within the system.
— Ai WeiweiChinese Artist & Dissident; Prominent Human Rights Activist and Political Critic
You can't go through life in that negative frame of mind. Just go, see what happens… challenge it. It's better to go to University and have an education doing what you want, rather than what you don't.
— Tracey EminBritish artist known for provocative conceptual and autobiographical works
Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast. We all have the ability to perform magic, to endure, to push ourselves beyond our limits, if we have the patience and the resilience.
— David BlaineIllusionist & Street Magician Known for Endurance Stunts & Television Specials
Endurance stays with you across everything, if you do it one place, you can do it anywhere. You're able to sustain because you've already trained your brain to do that.
— David BlaineIllusionist & Street Magician Known for Endurance Stunts & Television Specials
We have created a society that gives us more access to comfort. We have the ability to push much further than we think is possible, but the brain wants us to rest to allow the body to recover.
— David BlaineIllusionist & Street Magician Known for Endurance Stunts & Television Specials
The way you eliminate fear is to approach your situation from every angle, almost as though it were a logic puzzle. I like to think of it as approaching like a tortoise, not like a hare.
— David BlaineIllusionist & Street Magician Known for Endurance Stunts & Television Specials
Endurance is mind over body. It's about tapping into something within us that allows us to push further than we ever thought possible, especially at our weakest moments.
— David BlaineIllusionist & Street Magician Known for Endurance Stunts & Television Specials
If you can be as open with your heart as possible, humans will feel that intimacy from any distance. Bob Dylan, even in a stadium of 20,000 people can choose a point to strip it down to a piano, and you feel it.
— Penn JilletteMagician, Illusionist & Half of Penn & Teller Duo
My interest is not whether something could dematerialize in my hand, but how people can be misled. You can this very dangerous thing- lying- and make it safe to play around with.
— Penn JilletteMagician, Illusionist & Half of Penn & Teller Duo
Magic is this incredibly weird bondage and discipline you make where you say to someone, 'do this thing to me that's morally wrong… you have my consent…' – once you give your consent, the morality changes.
— Penn JilletteMagician, Illusionist & Half of Penn & Teller Duo
You have to know who you are, be open-minded, and be ready to collaborate. You have to have thick-skin and be prepared to get your idea ripped apart.
— Will.i.amGrammy-Winning Producer, Rapper & Innovator from Black Eyed Peas