The best advice is not to write what you know, it’s to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best—write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career: Whenever you’re at a loss for what move to make next, just ask yourself, “What would make a better story?”

Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest

There is something beautiful in that. MSCHF is the rare company where being true to yourself allows you to make a comfortable living. If the MSCHF thesis turns out to be right—if taste becomes the key competitive advantage in an age where creation is cheap—then aren’t taste-based businesses the best possible outcome for the world? All you have to d... See more

It occurs to me, much later than it occurred to the archivists, that we have never possessed such a complete and damning record of our past interactions. I can tell you every college scholarship I never got. Every sale at The Gap for the past 18 years. Every flight I’ve ever taken, anywhere in the world. Most grocery lists, news alerts, heartbreaks... See more

Is it clear to you when a trend forecast is coming from amateurs versus the professionals?

ES: I mean, no. I think an amateur and a professional have kind of an equal chance at hitting the nail on the head. True flashes of cultural insight happen where you’re lucky enough to just put the right words against the cultural phenomenon at the right momen... See more

The problem today’s daters face is that the mass adoption of online dating apps has not only eroded incentives to switch from explore to exploit mode, it has made exploration itself boring and dysfunctional.

It doesn’t last forever, but that’s really not the point.

“the ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.”