Words of Wisdom

Will Rogers (1979-1935) was born in what is now Oklahoma to a prominent Cherokee family. He grew up to be one of the most famous celebrities of his era, apperaring […]

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) is most famous for her work as a nurse, particularly during the Crimean War, and noted social reformer. She’s less famously known as a prodigious statistician and […]

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was a prolific science fiction writer and biochemist. During his lifetime, Asimov authored or edited over 500 books and served as president of the American Humanist Association. […]

Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) was the first post-war Chancellor of West Germany, a position he held from 1949-1963. Under his leadership, Germany allied with the NATO nations and saw its economy […]

“It’s worth looking at industries which a lot of people think are impossible or think you can’t succeed at – that’s usually where there’s opportunity.” –Elon Musk, Founder and CEO […]

“Everybody in the space program, everybody who’s a doctor, got interested in science when he or she was seven or eight years old… not when they were 16 or 18. That’s where you spend […]

“Society cares about the individual only in so far as he is profitable. The young know this. Their anxiety as they enter in upon social life matches the anguish of the […]

Abba Eban (1915-2002) was an Israeli diplomat, scholar, and statesman. He was famous for, among many other things, his expert command of ten different languages. His insight and ability as […]

Jane Goodall is one of the world’s foremost primatologists and a UN Messenger of Peace. Ever  since her first trip to Africa in 1957, Goodall has dedicated her life to […]

“The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do more, and you are not yet decrepit enough to turn them down.” –T.S. Eliot, […]

George Washington Carver (1861 or 1864-1943), who most people know for discovering 100 different uses for the peanut, was an American scientist and inventor. Born into slavery during the Civil […]

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was an American biologist, conservationist, and author. She is most famous for her landmark 1962 book Silent Spring and her influence on the environmentalism movement. She succumbed to […]

Bill Nye, everyone’s favorite Science Guy, recently visited Big Think to talk SpaceX, NASA, and the budding space tourism industry.  Would Bill jump at the chance to visit space? You […]

“Companies that model best practices, that model the most upstanding principles, end up as the most profitable. It’s not a trade of profits versus principles.” –Philip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and Founder of […]

“Sometimes I think that a parody of democracy could be more dangerous than a blatant dictatorship, because that gives people an opportunity to avoid doing anything about it.” Aung San […]

An early feminist, Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is best known as the author of the classic American children’s novel, Little Women. The above quote is from her 1870 novel An Old-Fashioned […]

“If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted […]

“When you love and accept yourself, when you know who really cares about you, and when you learn from your mistakes, then you stop caring about what people who don’t […]

“We need to create a world that is equitable, that is stable and a world where we bear in mind the needs of others, and not only what we need […]

“There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.” -Akira Kurosawa, Something Like an Autobiography (1981)

“We went, and by we I meant all of us, we went and built this wonderful Internet thing you’ve heard of…. But what has the government done and what has […]

“Leaders need to be increasingly discovery driven, meaning they have to be able to adapt their mindset as new information comes in and they have to be very candid and […]

“Never interrupt someone doing something you said couldn’t be done.” -Amelia Earhart For more on the legendary aviator: -Earhart’s National Geographicaccount of the 1935 trek from Honolulu to the California […]

“In no victory do they glory so much as in that which is gained by dexterity and good conduct without bloodshed.” -Sir Thomas More, from Utopia (1515) Thomas More’s utopian vision […]

“Luck is the residue of design.” – Branch Rickey Branch Rickey certainly knew a lot about luck because he was a master of design. He’s most famously known as the […]

“So far as I can see, all political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their […]

“I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.” – Lauren Bacall

“You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” – Robin Williams

“…If you look at a lot of the innovations and breakthroughs today and you trace them back, as I did in my research, to their origin, a lot of times what you find at the root of it all is a great question; a beautiful question of someone asking why isn’t someone doing this or what if someone tried to do that?  So I found that questions are often at the root of innovation.” – Warren Berger

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” – Alexander Graham Bell