01UndatedThings that will someday work out well start out well. Things that will never work start out bad and stay that way.Scott Adams / quote ↗
02UndatedWhat you rarely see is a stillborn failure that transmogrifies into a stellar success. Small successes can grow into big ones, but failures rarely grow into successes.I can’t think of an example in my life. It’s generally true that if no one is excited about your art/product/idea in the beginning, they never will be. If the first commercial version of your work excites no one to action, it’s time to move on to something different. Don’t be fooled by the opinions of friends and family. They’re all liars.Scott Adams / quote ↗
03UndatedIf I liked food and disliked exercise as much as a 400 pound guy, I'd be a 400 pound guy.Scott Adams / quote ↗
04UndatedCapitalism is rotten at every level, and yet it adds up to something extraordinarily useful for society over time. The paradox of capitalism is that adding a bunch of bad-sounding ideas together creates something incredible that is far more good than bad. Capitalism inspires people to work hard, to take reasonable risks, and to create value for customers. On the whole, capitalism channels selfishness in a direction that benefits civilization, not counting a few fat cats who have figured out how to game the system. You have the same paradox with personal energy. If you look at any individual action that boosts your personal energy, it might look like selfishness. Why are you going skiing when you should be working at the homeless shelter, you selfish bastard! My proposition is that organizing your life to optimize your personal energy will add up to something incredible that is more good than bad.Scott Adams / quote ↗
08UndatedYou don't have to be a person of influence to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they've taught me.Scott Adams / quote ↗
09UndatedI'm more of a sprinter than a marathoner when it comes to many aspects of life. For example, when I'm running. Over short distances--up to two yards--I can run faster than cheap panty hose on an itchy porcupine. But over long distances, I'm not so impressive.I try to compensate for my lack of long-distance endurance by having good form. I'm told that my running style is quite majestic. That's probably because I learned to run by watching nature films in which leopards chased frightened zebras. Now when I run, I open my eyes real wide and let my tongue slap the side of my face. If you saw it, you'd be saying, "That's very majestic." And then you'd run like a frightened zebra. That's why my homeowners association voted to ask me to do my jogging with a pillowcase over my head.Scott Adams / quote ↗
10UndatedRealistically, most people have poor filters for sorting truth from fiction, and there’s no objective way to know if you’re particularly good at it or not. Consider the people who routinely disagree with you. See how confident they look while being dead wrong? That’s exactly how you look to them.Scott Adams / quote ↗
11UndatedInformed decision-making comes from a long tradition of guessing and then blaming others for inadequate results.Scott Adams / quote ↗
12UndatedRemind people that profit is the difference between revenue and expense. This makes you look smart.Scott Adams / quote ↗
13UndatedBeware of advice about successful people and their methods. For starters, no two situations are alike. Your dreams of creating a dry-cleaning empire won't be helped by knowing that Thomas Edison liked to take naps.Scott Adams / quote ↗
14UndatedIt doesn't take many people to have a bad sense of humor to get in trouble at a corporation.Scott Adams / quote ↗
15UndatedIf your goal is to lose 10 pounds, you may wake up each day with failure in mind because the goal is hard to reach, and you are progressing only by small amounts. It takes up all your willpower. I recommend that instead of a goal, you have a system.Scott Adams / quote ↗
17UndatedMost success springs from an obstacle or failure. I became a cartoonist largely because I failed in my goal of becoming a successful executive.Scott Adams / quote ↗
18UndatedIf your current get-rich project fails, take what you learned and try something else. Keep repeating until something lucky happens. The universe has plenty of luck to go around; you just need to keep your hand raised until it's your turn. It helps to see failure as a road and not a wall.Scott Adams / quote ↗
19UndatedHappiness is nothing but good health and freedom, and money is the single best way you can buy your freedom.Scott Adams / quote ↗
20UndatedThe greenest home is the one you don't build. If you really want to save the Earth, move in with another family and share a house that's already built. Better yet, live in the forest and eat whatever the squirrels don't want.Scott Adams / quote ↗
21UndatedNothing defines humans better than their willingness to do irrational things in the pursuit of phenomenally unlikely payoffs. This is the principle behind lotteries, dating, and religion.Scott Adams / quote ↗
22UndatedThe world is like a reverse casino. In a casino, if you gamble long enough, you're certainly going to lose. But in the real world, where the only thing you're gambling is, say, your time or your embarrassment, then the more stuff you do, the more you give luck a chance to find you.Scott Adams / quote ↗
24UndatedScientists will eventually stop flailing around with solar power and focus their efforts on harnessing the only truly unlimited source of energy on the planet: stupidity. I predict that in the future, scientists will learn how to convert stupidity into clean fuel.Scott Adams / quote ↗
