“I remember taking my daughter to a speech I gave when she was just 5 years old, I wanted her to see mummy on stage as a way of showing her that she could be whatever she wanted to be.”
— Jacqueline Gold
Founder and former CEO of Ann Summers lingerie and party plan business

The quote archive

Psychology

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

Organizations fail when leaders fail to write-down their own depreciating intellectual capital, and bureaucracies exaggerate that problem by vesting so much power in so few people. Most change management programs are in-fact catch-up programs.

— Gary Hamel

Management theorist & author who revolutionized strategic thinking

In my experience, unless you are directly affected by a human rights abuse, you are unlikely to give it a second thought. How many times do you draw breath a day? It's about 22,000 times – you don't think about it until you can't. That's exactly how most people view human rights- they are generally apathetic and may express some concern or sympathy when they hear about something on the news, but they don't mobilise unless it affects them directly.

— Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein

UN Human Rights Chief & International Justice Advocate

Especially at the beginning, it takes just the right amount of delusion to dedicate yourself to something ambitious. The reality is you're more likely to fail than succeed and so you need strong belief to commit your heart and soul to an idea.

— Perry Chen

Founder of Kickstarter, crowdfunding platform pioneer

By keeping people feeling they are on the wrong side of history morally, or on the wrong side of the argument intellectually, and by doing so using rhetorical tricks, they are very effective at keeping people on the defensive.

— Dr. James Lindsay

Mathematician & Scholar of Critical Theory Criticism & Academic Discourse

Critical narratives are centered on the idea of moral complicity in these evils and use very sophisticated rhetorical ways to get people to feel that guilt and to believe in their complicity. They use very obscure language that involves a lot of double-meaning and multiple-meaning to words so that people it confronts feel stupid.

— Dr. James Lindsay

Mathematician & Scholar of Critical Theory Criticism & Academic Discourse

Empowerment means we are able to sustain hope in a situation that may – to many outsiders – look hopeless.

— David Miliband

British Labour Politician & Former Foreign Secretary

There's something intrinsically sensual about jewellery, you wear it on your skin, it's a part of you and it embodies and imbues the personality and lustre of the wearer. There's something about gold and stones in particular which- for me- have a magical element.

— Jade Jagger

In our low moments, music is our therapy, it helps us to cry, to breathe, or gives us the encouragement we need… it's our therapy. In our moments of happiness, music is our celebration… it's extraordinary.

— Ally Brooke

Former Fifth Harmony Member & Solo Artist

I was born premature, just 1lb 14oz, and my parents were told that survival chances for babies born so premature were low, and that it was likely I would grow up with disabilities if I survived. Praise God I survived, and I'm here today to live out my dreams.

— Ally Brooke

Former Fifth Harmony Member & Solo Artist

More than most artforms, music is the one that can't be beaten, tamed or matched. It just impacts your soul. I love producing music that gives people hope, makes them feel good, and gets them dancing and moving.

— Ally Brooke

Former Fifth Harmony Member & Solo Artist

The moment I sang and I saw the audience loved it, I felt this powerful electricity all over me, it was like falling in love and knowing my purpose right there and then. I didn't know what journey my dreams would take, but I knew singing filled me up like nothing else could. It felt like a superpower.

— Ally Brooke

Former Fifth Harmony Member & Solo Artist

Social media was kind-of created to destroy humanity, in a literal sense. The first notion of the implications of such networks was provided by B. F. Skinner who spoke of the dangers of people who- on networks- were too free, too creative and too uncontrolled.

— Jaron Lanier

Pioneer of Virtual Reality & Critic of Social Media

We are now 10 years into the mass warping of the human collective psyche because of a lack of checks and balances. To even begin to correct what's already happened means we have to wake up to the challenge of a world which must collectively wake-up from a mass delusion that has warped our trajectory as a civilisation.

— Tristan Harris

Design ethicist & founder of Center for Humane Technology

Technology claims to be showing us a mirror of what was already present in society but in reality, technology is a funhouse mirror with a feedback loop that's engineered to show us the most egregious parts of society that are better at keeping our attention.

— Tristan Harris

Design ethicist & founder of Center for Humane Technology

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

Design ethicist & founder of Center for Humane Technology

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 Omand

Former UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator & National Security Adviser