Paul Graham Quotes

“You'll become like whoever you work with. Do you want to be like these people?”

“There are few sources of energy so powerful as a procrastinating college student.”

“Being strong-willed is not enough, however. You also have to be hard on yourself. Someone who was strong-willed but self-indulgent would not be called determined. Determination implies your willfulness is balanced by discipline.”

“At every period of history, people have believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you risked ostracism or even violence by saying otherwise. If our own time were any different, that would be remarkable. As far as I can tell it isn't.”

“A programming language is for thinking about programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of. It should be a pencil, not a pen.”

“If you leave a bunch of eleven-year-olds to their own devices, what you get is Lord of the Flies.”

“It's hard to say exactly what it is about face-to-face contact that makes deals happen, but whatever it is, it hasn't yet been duplicated by technology.”

“A restaurant can afford to serve the occasional burnt dinner. But in technology, you cook one thing and that's what everyone eats.”

“If you're in a job that feels safe, you are not going to get exceptional, because if there is no danger there is almost certainly no leverage.”