“While pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. Painful events are a given in life, but the transformation of this pain into enduring suffering lies within our control. The critical aspect isn't the adversity one faces, but how one responds to such adversity. This reaction, rather than the events themselves, forms the narrative of our lives.”
— Kevin Kelly
Founding Executive Editor of Wired Magazine & Technology Thinker

The quote archive

Business

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

If you are able to share the things you're scared people will find out? That's real transparency, and that's how you earn the trust that transparency can bring, but if it doesn't feel uncomfortable, it's just marketing.

— Rand Fishkin

Founder of Moz, SEO software company and industry thought leader

One of the biggest myths in startup-land is this idea that the pinnacle of startups is building a venture-scale company, backed by venture capital, growing exceptionally fast and being OK with high failure rates as a result; in other words, returning a significant amount of capital to an investor rather than any other outcome.

— Rand Fishkin

Founder of Moz, SEO software company and industry thought leader

In a geopolitical recession, suddenly the biggest macro risks are by their nature political. And you focus less on growth and more on stability and resilience, and that's a problem because the free market model tells you 'don't focus on resilience and stability, focus first and foremost on growth and everything else will take care of itself'.

— Ian Bremmer

Founder of Eurasia Group & Political Risk Analyst

Much of the pushback against science is related to a distrust of the establishment and of multinational corporations and their profit motive. It's easy to spread fear; as humans we're very tuned and sensitive to it.

— Venki Ramakrishnan

Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for Ribosome Structure Studies

Criminals are not looking for challenges, but opportunities. Every breach I've been involved with comes down to the fact that someone in the company did something they weren't supposed to or failed to do something they should have done.

— Frank Abagnale

Notorious con artist and impostor who inspired the film "Catch Me If You Can

The truth is that we live in a very unethical society. We don't teach ethics at home, schools or university. As a consequence most businesses don't have a code of ethics or conduct.

— Frank Abagnale

Notorious con artist and impostor who inspired the film "Catch Me If You Can

For the vast majority of financial crimes, embezzlement, credit-card scams, information selling and so on; this comes down to one simple motivation- making oneself richer, greed. I've been teaching at the FBI academy for 42 years, and the level of greed you see out there is unbelievable.

— Frank Abagnale

Notorious con artist and impostor who inspired the film "Catch Me If You Can

Our apps and platforms are addictive by design. We know this both because the tech titans behind them have admitted it publicly, and because the dominant apps and social media platforms use the same suite of techniques that are well-proven to ensnare us.

— Adam Alter

Psychologist & Author specializing in behavioral psychology and irrational decision-making

There's a deliberate strategy and direct correlation between how much we're being attacked regarding our looks, and how much the beauty industry and cosmetic surgery industry are booking. These are companies growing into the tens of billions in revenue across countries and continents.

— Jameela Jamil

Actress & Mental Health Advocate; Host of "The Good Place

To fight back, you have to first identify the enemy and right now, the enemies are corporations and the culture of consumerism. Brands work on the principle that if you break down people's confidence, they will be much more vulnerable to advertising, and much more likely to go out and consume.

— Jameela Jamil

Actress & Mental Health Advocate; Host of "The Good Place

It's disappointing to see the amount of people who choose to profit from the pain and self-consciousness of teenage girls without even thinking about it. If you are motivated to constantly talk about your image, your weight and to guide people through ridiculously unhealthy juice fasts- then you are already poison; you've drunk the kool-aid.

— Jameela Jamil

Actress & Mental Health Advocate; Host of "The Good Place

Most every decision that your team will make is independent of you as a leader. If those individuals and teams don't know what that end-game truly looks like, the odds of them making the right decision at any moment in time diminishes.

— Chris Hadfield

Canadian Astronaut & International Space Station Commander

You have to be resilient and you have to find the right investors. Surround yourself with amazing investors who are experts.

— José Neves

Founder and CEO of Farfetch, luxury fashion e-commerce platform

Slowly, over the course of a decade, we built relationships by proving we weren't there to destroy luxury's heritage and its 'unspoken codes of conduct,' but actually to protect them and enable this industry to thrive. We were fashion insiders, and we just happened to be coders too!

— José Neves

Founder and CEO of Farfetch, luxury fashion e-commerce platform

I just hope that those who become influencers make smart choices; it's the kind of attention that comes quickly and is very hard to maintain. There are a few people that remain, and who have maintained longevity, but for the most part, influencer culture is extremely short lived.

— Perez Hilton

Celebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website

Social media has been a wonderful thing; it allows celebrities to bypass the middle-man. Many celebrities have also been able to monetise their social-media and make extra money, often very serious amounts. Crucially, social media gives celebrities the opportunities to speak for themselves and set the record straight.

— Perez Hilton

Celebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website