It's good to test yourself and develop your talents and ambitions as fully as you can and achieve greater success; but I think success is the feeling you get from a job well done, and the key thing is to do the work.
Peter ThielRead
I believe we are in a world where innovation in stuff was outlawed. It was basically outlawed in the last 40 years - part of it was environmentalism, part of it was risk aversion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Peter Thiel suggests that innovation has been stifled by environmental concerns and a fear of taking risks over the past four decades.
In this quote, Peter Thiel argues that for the past 40 years, societal norms and regulations, influenced by environmentalism and a collective aversion to risk, have created an environment where innovation is discouraged or even deemed unacceptable. He implies that these factors have contributed significantly to a stagnation in technological and industrial advancement, calling for a reevaluation of how society views and manages innovation.
Themes
InnovationEnvironmentalismRiskSocietyTechnologyStagnation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the challenges of modern-day entrepreneurship.
More from Peter Thiel
All quotes →The first question we would ask if aliens landed on this planet is not, 'What does this mean for the economy or jobs?' It would be, 'Are they friendly or unfriendly?'
Peter ThielRead
People working on bigger ideas on a more protracted timeline will be more on the stealth side. They aren’t releasing new PR announcements every day. The bigger the secret and the likelier it is that you alone have it, the more time you have to execute. There may be far more people going after hard secrets than we think.
Peter ThielRead
What is it about our society where anyone who does not have Asperger's gets talked out of their heterodox ideas?
Peter ThielRead
Every time you write an email, it is in the public domain. There are all these ways where security is not as good as people believe.
Peter ThielRead
Creating value isn't enough - you also need to capture some of the value you create.
Peter ThielRead
Similar quotes
Most innovative things are not obvious to other people at the time. You have to believe in yourself. If you've got a good idea, follow it even though others tell you it's not.
Frances ArnoldRead
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
Competition is one of the most important drivers of innovation because you have to stay in the race. You have to think of something new, and if you don't, well, of course you should leave the market.
Margrethe VestagerRead
My definition of 'innovative' is providing value to the customer.
Mary BarraRead
Companies over-emphasize idea generation and under-emphasize idea execution when it comes to innovation.
Vijay GovindarajanRead
Japan's very interesting. Some people think it copies things. I don't think that anymore. I think what they do is reinvent things. They will get something that's already been invented and study it until they thoroughly understand it. In some cases, they understand it better than the original inventor.
Steve JobsRead