People
(page 28)
I don't write on topics that require a lot of urgency. But in 'Stiff', I wanted to change people's hearts about organ donation. Whenever I get a chance, I try to talk about that.
As you get older and wiser you realize that when people are given anything without having to earn it (unless they are physically or mentally utterly incapable of earning anything), they become ungrateful and lazy. They also become less happy.
People make basic assumptions based on what they have now. But you have to ask yourself, 'Is this really what people are going to be doing in five years?' Very few people ask themselves what they would actually want instead if they could wave a magic wand.
Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
Young people are often asked, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' and given advice about how to lead meaningful adult lives, but where's the encouragement to lead meaningful lives right now?
The over-all point is that new technology will not necessarily replace old technology, but it will date it. By definition. Eventually, it will replace it. But it's like people who had black-and-white TVs when color came out. They eventually decided whether or not the new technology was worth the investment.
You can make something big when young that will carry you through life. Look at all the big startups like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. They were all started by very young people who stumbled on something of unseen value. You'll know it when you hit a home run.
Older people sit down and ask, 'What is it?' but the boy asks, 'What can I do with it?'.
People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
All the people like us are we, and everyone else is They.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
Other people do not have to change for us to experience peace of mind.
Growing economies are critical; we will never be able to end poverty unless economies are growing. We also need to find ways of growing economies so that the growth creates good jobs, especially for young people, especially for women, especially for the poorest who have been excluded from the economic system.
I want people to think of me as a nice person. I really am so blessed. All of this has been a great experience and I thank the American public so much for putting me in this position. I appreciate every second of it.
When people think about computer science, they imagine people with pocket protectors and thick glasses who code all night.
It's about communication. It's about honesty. It's about treating people in the organization as deserving to know the facts. You don't try to give them half the story. You don't try to hide the story. You treat them as — as true equals, and you communicate and you communicate and communicate.
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.
The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.
Escapist literature gets a bad rap. But I think escape is important for a lot of people in a lot of places.
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