We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.
Jeff BezosRead
The smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they’d already solved. They’re open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The most intelligent individuals continue to update their understanding and are open to new ideas and perspectives.
In this quote, Jeff Bezos highlights the importance of intellectual humility among the smartest individuals. He emphasizes that true intelligence is not about having all the answers but rather about being willing to revisit past conclusions, entertain new viewpoints, and embrace the complexity of problems. This mindset fosters continuous learning and growth, enabling individuals to adapt more effectively to change and challenges they encounter.
Themes
IntelligenceGrowthLearningOpennessUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on problem-solving techniques, one might say this quote to emphasize the merits of flexibility in thinking.
More from Jeff Bezos
All quotes →Work hard, have fun and make history.
Jeff BezosRead
If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve.
Jeff BezosRead
But there's so much kludge, so much terrible stuff, we are at the 1908 Hurley washing machine stage with the Internet. That's where we are. We don't get our hair caught in it, but that's the level of primitiveness of where we are. We're in 1908.
Jeff BezosRead
Because, you know, resilience - if you think of it in terms of the Gold Rush, then you'd be pretty depressed right now because the last nugget of gold would be gone. But the good thing is, with innovation, there isn't a last nugget. Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.
Jeff BezosRead
When you are eighty years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices.
Jeff BezosRead
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I never decide if an idea is good or bad until I try it. So much of what gets in the way of things being good is thinking that we know. And the more that we can remove any baggage we're carrying with us, and just be in the moment, use our ears, and pay attention to what's happening, and just listen to the inner voice that directs us, the better.
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I know now that what makes a fool is an inability to take even his own good advice.
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In this sullen apathy neither true wisdom nor true happiness can be found.
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