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When the ultimate perfection is attained, the body and limbs perform by themselves what is assigned to them to do with no interference from the mind.

– DT Suzuki

Always work on problems for which you possess an unfair advantage.

– Hans Bethe

A large financial services industry can only thrive by aggressively extracting capital from industries with poor economics, and investing in industries with better economics. So the size of the financial sector is, among other things, a measure of the invisible productivity subsidy from asset allocation.

– Byrne Hobart

Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.

– Ryan Holiday

The public has a distorted view of science because children are taught in school that science is a collection of firmly established truths. In fact, science is not a collection of truths. It is a continuing exploration of mysteries.

– Freeman Dyson

As a good rule of thumb, proprietary technology must be at least 10 times better than its closest substitute in some important dimension to lead to a real monopolistic advantage. Anything less than an order of magnitude better will probably be perceived as a marginal improvement and will be hard to sell, especially in an already crowded market.

– Peter Thiel, Zero To One

Superior investment performance is not our primary goal. But superior performance with less-than commensurate risk above average gains in good times are not proof of a manager’s skill. It takes superior performance in bad times to prove that those good-time gains were earned through skill, not simply the acceptance of above average risk.

– Howard Marks

The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed. Proficiency and results come only to those who have learned the paradoxical art of doing and not doing, or combining relaxation with activity

– Aldous Huxley

If what you’re working on/funding would’ve gotten made/funded easily without you, what you’re doing is more zero-sum — you’re just trying to get in for the ride. If the thing wouldn’t exist without your support and you’re providing capital where it is scarce, that feels a lot more productive.

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