Many armies fail because they put all their emphasis into creating a plan that becomes useless ten minutes into the battle

The most basic way to get someone's attention is this: Break a pattern.

The first problem of communication is getting people's attention.

Anger prepares us to fight and fear prepares us to flee.

Mental simulation is not as good as actually doing something. But it's the next best thing. And the right kind of a story is a simulation.

To make our communications more effective, we need to shift our thinking from "What information do I need to convey?" to "What questions do I want my audience to ask?

Change is hard because people wear themselves out. And that’s the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion.

Success emerges from the quality of the decisions we make and the quantity of luck we receive. We can't control luck. But we can control the way we make choices.

What’s working, and how can we do more of it?

The more we reduce the amount of information in an idea, the stickier it will be.

The more hooks an idea has, the better it will cling to memory.

Guilt makes people do the weirdest things. It must be awful to have a conscience.

When I'm playing a part, I can feel all my body playing it; it's like really making love.

Never assume that you can make it alone. You need the help of the Lord. Never hesitate to get on your knees in some private place and speak with Him.

I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them.

Mexico doesn't seem alien to Californians.

Truth gives no advantage. It gives no higher status, no power over others; all you get is truth and freedom from the false.

You know what the [Barack] Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys.

The problem that we have is that most Americans don't even study American history, let alone Pinochet, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and all these guys.

Who says one instance of writing has anything in common with another instance?

I thought of rhyme alone, For rhyme can beat a measure out of trouble And make the daylight sweet once more.