One of the most intelligent case studies in design is the Chinese tea cup. They’re made without handles simply because if it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to drink.

Humans naturally want to add more. Add a cardboard sleeve, add a warning on the outside of the cup, add a handle. The result of all these things never cools down the actual contents.

A question is a lens that frames how you see things.

A question is a provocation.

A question is what stirs up new associations and brings up mental cues.

A question leads, and directs.

A good question gets to the heart of things.

A bad question gives you red herrings.

Successful people don’t just ride out the Dip. They don’t just buckle down and survive it. No, they lean into the Dip. They push harder, changing the rules as they go. Just because you know you’re in the Dip doesn’t mean you have to live happily with it. Dips don’t last quite as long when you whittle at them

— The Dip

“They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm

A toll gets you to somewhere you want to go to. A tax sucks you dry. Be okay with tolls in your life, they make you better. Taxes on the other hand are a part of life and of course should be paid, but you don't want to live a life with only taxes, no tolls. You want mostly tolls, some taxes.

- Greg Isenberg