As Oscar Wilde famously observed: “What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

beautiful things don't ask for attention

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.

If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.”

— Jim Barksdale

Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field (Walter Isaacson):

While Jobs was attending Reed College, Robert Friedland "taught Steve the reality distortion field." The RDF was said to be Jobs's ability to convince himself, and others around him, to believe almost anything with a mix of charm, charisma, bravado, hyperbole, marketing, appeasement, and persi

Breaking through to a better idea by subtraction, rather than addition, is the most satisfying kind of breakthrough.

-Jason Fried

A more certain path to wisdom, even enlightenment, lies in strategic non-action as a way of accessing the unvarnished truth that is out there, all around you. If you act less and less on the world in an effort to influence affairs to your advantage you will eventually arrive at the point where you are motionless, poised with full potential. From he