“In the same way that kids would benefit from healthy, happy parents- startups would benefit from healthy, happy founders.”
— Rand Fishkin
Founder of Moz, SEO software company and industry thought leader

The quote archive

Wisdom in fragments

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

Glastonbury means different things to different people, but for me, there's something really life affirming about bringing people together who can live peacefully, without conflict, for 5 days in the middle of the countryside with pretty basic facilities, leaving feeling like they can change the world.

— Emily Eavis

Co-organizer of Glastonbury Festival with her father Michael Eavis

I never, ever, thought – even remotely – that I would make this festival my life. It was never seen as something that would run forever – and was something which was very much done 'by the seat of our pants' you know? It was a miracle if we got through, one year at a time….

— Emily Eavis

Co-organizer of Glastonbury Festival with her father Michael Eavis

It feels to us that the festival is owned by the people, and me and my Dad are kind-of custodians of it. In that sense, it's a bit like a sailing ship… me and my Dad drive it, but the ship is made of a few hundred people – our key organisers and creatives, who build each part of the ship with their own vision.

— Emily Eavis

Co-organizer of Glastonbury Festival with her father Michael Eavis

The festival and the perception of it are very hard to pin down, they mean so much, in so many ways, to so many people. If you ask one person what Glastonbury means to them, it will be a very different answer to another. One of the most precious aspects of Glastonbury is specifically that we can't put our finger on it.

— Emily Eavis

Co-organizer of Glastonbury Festival with her father Michael Eavis

High performance is- truly- a checklist. It's waking up, understanding how many things you can do that day to the best of your ability, getting those things done, allowing yourself time to exercise, eat, rest, engage in active recovery, get some social support, have some mindfulness and gratitude time.

— Steven Kotler

Author & Researcher on Flow State & Human Peak Performance

Our brain is local and linear, and we live in a global and exponential world. If you want to keep pace, you have to perform and think at speed and scale – and we're not built for it. Flow is literally our leverage for keeping pace in a global, exponential world.

— Steven Kotler

Author & Researcher on Flow State & Human Peak Performance

When you close your eyes and imagine the person you're going to be in 10 years, this area of your brain is totally deactivated – it's treating the person you are going to become as a stranger. This is why people have such a hard time getting prostate exams, staying on a diet, quitting smoking, because the person who is going to benefit the most from these things is literally not you.

— Steven Kotler

Author & Researcher on Flow State & Human Peak Performance

Firms like McKinsey are self-reporting that their people are 5x more productive in-flow than out of flow… 500% more productive. That means you can work Monday in-flow and take the rest of the week off – and you'd still get as much done as your peers. Work two days a week? You're now 1000% more productive than the competition.

— Steven Kotler

Author & Researcher on Flow State & Human Peak Performance

Anyone worth following in peak performance will tell you that 90% of human performance is mental. The understanding of that mental aspect of the game is brand-new – perhaps 10-20 years old. The work being done around the neuroscience of performance is creating an unprecedented rate of change; it's honestly off the charts.

— Steven Kotler

Author & Researcher on Flow State & Human Peak Performance

This is a really exciting time for human space exploration, we have a lot to be hopeful about – and we have a whole bunch of private companies who have very credible strategies and vehicles. Like in so many other industries, the government has played a key role in kickstarting things – but to realise the full potential of this industry we'll need private industry to get involved seriously.

— Mike Massimino

Astronaut and educator who conducted spacewalks on the Hubble Space Telescope

One of the amazing things is how adaptable our brains our – and by day 2, I was feeling really good. NASA is pretty good at understanding how to keep you healthy in space; and so you go through sleep-shifts to help you stay rested, and to make sure you don't get a drop in performance from being tired.

— Mike Massimino

Astronaut and educator who conducted spacewalks on the Hubble Space Telescope

Being at that altitude though – 100 miles higher than the space station, enables you to see even more of the planet's curvature – it's a different viewpoint, a different experience and perspective – you truly felt like you were interacting with the environment, you felt like a real spaceman – it was extraordinary.

— Mike Massimino

Astronaut and educator who conducted spacewalks on the Hubble Space Telescope

Seeing the earth from space was just breathtaking – I cannot imagine anywhere being more beautiful, we're living on an absolute paradise. Seeing our planet from that vantage point also changed my perspective on the concept of home. I used to think of myself as a New Yorker, as an America, but now? I'm a citizen of earth first and still all those things. Now, when I think of home, I think of the earth.

— Mike Massimino

Astronaut and educator who conducted spacewalks on the Hubble Space Telescope

From there; one thing led to another. I ended up doing a TV show that never saw the light of day, and then a series called Hum Paanch for about a year and a half. I got into a few attendance issues at college, and had to quit that – but ended up doing ads.

— Vidya Balan

Indian actress known for critically acclaimed roles in unconventional films

I got through the audition, but I'll never forget the writer/director telling me, 'what prompted us to call you was the way your bio was written, it was great!' – That's why I credit my sister for so much in my life, including my very first opportunity as an actor.

— Vidya Balan

Indian actress known for critically acclaimed roles in unconventional films

When I told my parents and sister – my sister (who has always been my champion) took me to a local photo studio. I had my best clothes, she did my make-up and I posed in front of the camera. I sent those pictures with a bio that my sister wrote, and I got called for an audition.

— Vidya Balan

Indian actress known for critically acclaimed roles in unconventional films