“Within each of us is a deep, complex network of capillaries, veins and arteries which extend a distance equivalent to more than 3 times the circumference of the Earth, and because our body has lost its conditioning to nature, our hearts have to pump 20-30 times a minute more than if we regularly exposed our body to cold water.”— Wim Hof
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
Economics is like artificial intelligence, it's not really there… there's no physical invisible hand…. It's about people interacting with people against a social order, a set of ethics, principles and practices.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
Technology isn't a 'thing,' it's a social structure that people act upon the universe through. The social structure has incentives, roles and governance which determine the meaning and effect of the technology, not the engineering itself.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
There's no sensible definition of people without technology. Our relationship with technology is complex and helical. As technology changes over time, so do we, and we have a situation therefore where we develop technologies, adapt, and then need new technologies to solve the side-effects of the first.
— Jaron LanierPioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media
The purpose of intelligence is to improve the quality of decision making by reducing ignorance. The more you know the more likely it is that a sound decision will be taken. That applies to all of us in our day-to-day decisions.
— Professor Sir David OmandFormer UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator & National Security Adviser
We wouldn't want to live in a world of full transparency. That is a world where I can see into your brain, and you into mine. We all need privacy for our thoughts, and inside government we need politicians and advisers to be able to explore ideas in private.
— Professor Sir David OmandFormer UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator & National Security Adviser
Our knowledge of the world is always fragmentary and incomplete and our explanations of how the world works have therefore to be considered as provisional. This means we have to accept that sometimes we will turn out afterwards to have been wrong.
— Professor Sir David OmandFormer UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator & National Security Adviser
In comparing alternative explanations, it is not necessarily the one with the most evidence apparently in its favour that we should choose but the one with least evidence against it. One solid piece of evidence can demolish a hypothesis.
— Professor Sir David OmandFormer UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator & National Security Adviser
If you view the world from a moral perspective, you have no option but to address climate change in a timely fashion. The good news is that the moral imperative is backed-up by economics, technological advance and capital shifts.
— Christiana FigueresFormer UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
If you want to do something well you do it 1,000 times, if you want to do something great you do it 10,000 times.
— Robert J. O’NeillFormer SEAL Team Six member who shot Osama bin Laden
If I left this mission, and didn't go, I would be on my deathbed wishing I'd had that opportunity back.
— Robert J. O’NeillFormer SEAL Team Six member who shot Osama bin Laden
It's only when you look back that you can connect the dots to where we are right now. All of us go through things that make us think, 'this makes no sense, why is this happening to me!…' but when you look back you realise that had it not been for 'that,' you wouldn't have had that opportunity… that meeting… that chance… that love.
— Matthew McConaugheyAcademy Award-Winning Actor Known for Dallas Buyers Club Role
What's beautiful is when you're filling your bank account and your soul account. There are two accounts! Look, I like money, I like fame… I happen to be rich and famous… I don't apologise for those things, nor do I boohoo them or approach my appreciation for them with false modesty.
— Matthew McConaugheyAcademy Award-Winning Actor Known for Dallas Buyers Club Role
We're such a 'more is better' culture and we have to redefine what we value, what creates satisfaction, and the 'currency' of our lives. In America, what are we told are the two most important things we need in life? Money and fame, baby! That's fine, but you can't chase those goals at the expense of your own character, that makes you a paper tiger, a fool.
— Matthew McConaugheyAcademy Award-Winning Actor Known for Dallas Buyers Club Role
When faced with the inevitable, get relative.
— Matthew McConaugheyAcademy Award-Winning Actor Known for Dallas Buyers Club Role
The greatest adventure that any of us can take is answering these questions for ourselves. This isn't deep, dark, conversation, it's normal conversation. The wisest, coolest prophets out there… people like the Dalai Lama… they're full of joy.
— Matthew McConaugheyAcademy Award-Winning Actor Known for Dallas Buyers Club Role
What it means to be creative is pretty simple. It's to do something human, something generous, something that might not work. It has to be all 3 of those things. You will find creative accountants, politicians, housekeepers and engineers… being creative is to solve interesting problems!
— Seth GodinMarketing Thought Leader & Author of "The Purple Cow