Commonplace

Quotes

• [2025-11-05] “Opportunities lie between areas of expertise” - Pollard, C. William. The Soul of the Firm. Harper Business, 1996. source

  Additional Details

  This perspective on innovation emphasizes the value of cross-disciplinary thinking, suggesting that the most valuable opportunities emerge at the intersection of different fields of expertise.

• [2025-10-11] “Learn not from experience but from reflecting on experience” - Dewey, John. How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process. D.C. Heath and Co., 1933. source

  Additional Details

  This insight highlights that true learning requires intentional reflection rather than passive experience. Creating dedicated time for processing and reflection can transform lived experiences into meaningful growth.

• [2025-10-09] “I was 45 years old, I’d been conducting for 20 years, and I suddenly had a realization. The conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. My picture appears on the front of the CD — But the conductor doesn’t make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful. And that changed everything for me. [I] realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people.” - Zander, Benjamin. The Transformative Power of Classical Music. TED, Feb. 2008. source

  Additional Details

  From Benjamin Zander’s TED talk on the transformative power of music, this quote reframes leadership as the act of awakening possibility in others rather than personal achievement.

• [2025-09-05] “The words you speak become the house you live in.” - Hafiz. The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master. Translated by Daniel Ladinsky, Penguin Compass, 1999. source

  Additional Details

  This metaphor from the 14th-century Persian Sufi poet speaks to the power of language in shaping our reality and inner world.

• [2025-08-13] “…because sophistication is either your first language or you always have an accent in it.” - Brodesser-Akner, Taffy. (2019). Fleishman is in trouble.

  Additional Details

  From Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s novel “Fleishman Is in Trouble”, this quote explores themes of class, sophistication, and belonging in modern American society, suggesting that true cultural fluency is either innate or forever marked by one’s origins.

• [2025-08-08] “Paper is more forgiving than people” - Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition. source

  Additional Details

  From Anne Frank’s diary, this observation captures the unique freedom and safety found in writing, where thoughts can be expressed without fear of judgment.

• [2025-08-07] “don’t dim your light because someone thinks it’s too bright” - Williamson, Marianne. A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”. HarperCollins, 1992. source

  Additional Details

  Part of Williamson’s famous passage about not playing small, this quote encourages authentic self-expression without shrinking to make others comfortable.

• [2025-08-04] “A Bet is a Tax on Bullshit” - Tabarrok, A. (2012, November 2). A bet is a tax on bullshit.

  Additional Details

  This concept is referenced in Nate Silver’s book “On the Edge”, highlighting how making bets forces people to commit to their beliefs with real stakes, serving as a mechanism to expose unfounded claims and encourage intellectual honesty.

• [2025-07-11] “Writing is the way to get your thoughts frozen so that you can sharpen it” - Tim Ferris. source

  Additional Details

  Tim Ferris highlights writing’s unique ability to capture fleeting thoughts, making them tangible objects that can be examined, refined, and improved.

• [2025-07-10] “Writing is, in fact, rewriting” - Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. 30th anniversary ed., HarperCollins, 2006. source

  Additional Details

  From Zinsser’s classic writing guide, this principle emphasizes that great writing emerges through revision rather than initial drafts.

• [2025-07-01] “It’s a good reminder that what’s lacking in life is not time. It’s focus. If you’re working on what matters, you can advance leaps and bounds in 8 hours. And if you’re just clearing the slog, you can spend a lifetime staying in the same place.” - (2024, December 12). Notes on China. Dwarkesh Patel.

  Additional Details

  From Dwarkesh Patel’s “Notes on China”, this observation emphasizes that productivity and progress are fundamentally about prioritization and concentrated effort rather than the quantity of time available.

• [2025-04-03] “Values are aspirational. Virtues are values in action” - Ben Horowitz in his 2019 book, What You Do Is Who You Are. source

  Additional Details

  Horowitz distinguishes between stated beliefs and actual behavior, emphasizing that culture is defined by what people do rather than what they claim to value.