From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Born into a family where my father made about £35 a week and both of my parents worked tirelessly, we didn't have the luxury of material wealth. Yet, we were enveloped in an abundance of love, which I view as the ultimate luxury. This upbringing imbued me with empathy towards families facing similar circumstances.
We must never confuse the pipe with the content. Today, we are fascinated by the pipe and nobody thinks of what is within.
Fashion predominantly concerns itself with trends – trousers transforming from wide to short, flares coming in and out of vogue, shoulder lines expanding and contracting. These shifts are transient, epitomising the fleeting nature of fashion. On the other hand, style demonstrates longevity – it truly stands the test of time.
Some of my greatest rewards have been when I jumped off the cliff and figured out how to fly on the way down.
Much of our future work may end up being about convincing them that we are conscious, and worth keeping around.
The role of the architect is not just to create beautiful buildings, but to improve the quality of human life through the built environment.
Patience is really the act of letting things take the time that they take. It becomes more important as the world accelerates and as we have the opportunity technologically to do things faster and faster. There are many things that can't continuously be accelerated, or which can only be accelerated to a certain point.
If you lose your ego, you lose the thread of that narrative you call your Self…humans, however, can't live very long without some sense of a continuing story.
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.
I believe happiness is a consequence, not a goal. If you engage in the right activities that bring contentment, happiness will naturally follow. Viewing happiness as a goal makes it elusive; it's like chasing an illusory concept. Once you grasp it, it tends to dissipate—such is the nature of emotions.
When you step off land into the ocean, you're at the mercy of the most powerful energy source there is – you can paddle out into the water with a picture in your mind of what the surf might be like and what waves might come, and things can change… the wind… the tide… the swell… in Hawaii, I've paddled out into a 2 feet swell in the morning, and a few hours later, it's 20ft, it's really something to behold.
Bias means your mind, your experiences, and your knowledge is too narrow to take in and truly appreciate the person standing in front of you. We have to hold all humans in respect.