By the age of 3, children from wealthier households hear, on average, about 500,000 encouragements and 80,000 discouragements. The ratio is reversed in households on welfare.

Grit is the stubborn refusal to quit.

To have a style is to be stuck.

We need to be willing to risk embarrassment, ask silly questions, surround ourselves with people who don't know what we're talking about. We need to leave behind the safety of our expertise.

What you discover when you look at creativity from the perspective of the brain is that it is universal. We're all creative all of the time, we can't help but be creative.

When we venture beyond the edge of our knowledge, all we have is art.

The answer will only arrive after we stop looking for it.

In fact, the only way to remain creative over time--to not be undone by our expertise--is to experiment with ignorance, to stare at things we don't fully understand.

While human nature largely determines how we hear the notes, it is nurture that lets us hear the music.

Rejection process is not fun. It's the red pen on the page, the discarded sketch, sometimes is the only way forward.

there simply is no way to describe the past without lying. Our memories are not like fiction. They are fiction.

Sadness is a grieve spirit.

Sometimes the good memories are just as painful as the bad ones.

God is not looking for incredibly high notes, intricate riffs or award winning ad-libbing. God is looking at the heart.

To deny someone's feelings or experiences it to literally deny their reality.

Recalibration of the mind means clearing our perceptions and recovering our capacity for pure observation.

Good architecture lets nature in.

What makes me deeply vulnerable? Probably the thing I suffer most from and have the most uncontrollable reactions from is still social anxiety.

It's always sunny above the clouds. Always. Every day on earth - every day I have ever had - was secretly sunny, after all.

Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.

I'm growing older, but not up.