Kevin Kelly’s Best Quotes from Excellent Advice for Living

“Don’t be the best, be the only.”

“If your opinions on one subject can be predicted from your opinions on another, you may be in the grip of an ideology. When you truly think for yourself, your conclusions will not be predictable.”

“The greatest breakthroughs are missed because they look like really hard work.”

“If you can’t tell what you desperately need, it’s probably sleep.”

“To rapidly reveal the true character of a person you just met, observe them stuck on an abysmally slow internet connection.”

“The best way to advise young people is to find out what they really want to do and then advise them to do it.”

“Don’t define yourself by your opinions, because then you can’t change your mind. Define yourself by your values.”

“You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind.”

“You don’t need more time because you already have all the time that you will ever get; you need more focus.”

“If you’re not embarrassed by your past self, you have probably not grown up yet.”

“Perhaps the most counterintuitive truth of the universe is that the more you give to others, the more you’ll get. Understanding this is the beginning of wisdom.” 

“If you are not falling down occasionally, you are just coasting.”

“Make others feel they are important; it will make their day and it will make your day.”

“Expand your mind by thinking with your feet on a walk or with your hand in a notebook. Think outside your brain.” 

“If you ask for someone’s feedback, you’ll get a critic. But if you ask for someone’s advice, you’ll get a partner.”

“Whenever you can’t decide which path to take, pick the one that produces change.”

“Make others feel they are important; it will make their day and it will make your day.” 

“The best way to learn anything is to teach what you know.” 

“The more you leave behind, the further you will advance.”

“Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points.”

“Listening well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love, keep asking them, ‘Is there more?’ until there is no more.”

“Your passions should fit you exactly, but your purpose in life should exceed you. Work for something much larger than yourself.”

“Experiences are fun, and having influence is rewarding, but only mattering makes us happy. Do stuff that matters.”

“The consistency of your endeavors (exercise, companionship, work) is more important than the quality. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what you do occasionally.”

“What you do on your bad days matters more than what you do on your good days.”

“Make stuff that is good for people to have.”

“It is your destiny to work on things that only you can do.”

“You cannot get smart people to work extremely hard just for money.”

“Half the skill of being educated is learning what you can ignore.”

“Most articles and stories are improved significantly if you delete the first page of the manuscript. Start with the action.”

Advice on investing but also life: “Average returns, maintained for above-average periods of time, will yield extraordinary results.

“Occasionally your first idea is best, but usually it’s the fifth idea. You need to get all the obvious ideas out of the way. Try to surprise yourself.”

“Don’t bother fighting the old, just build the new.”

“Do more of what looks like work to others but is play for you.”

“The stronger your beliefs, the stronger your reasons to question them regularly. Don’t simply believe everything you think you believe.”

“The trick to making wise decisions is to evaluate your choices as if you were looking back 25 years from today. What would your future self think?” 

“To be interesting, just tell your own story with uncommon honesty.” 

“The main reason to produce something every day is that you must throw away a lot of good work to reach the great stuff. To let it all go easily, you need to be convinced that there is ‘more where that came from.’ You get that in steady production.”

“To get your message across, follow this formula used by ad writers everywhere: simplify, simplify, simplify, then exaggerate.

“Mastering the view through the eyes of others will unlock so many doors.” 

“To meditate, sit and pay attention to your breathing. Your mind will wander to thoughts. Then you bring your attention back to your breathing, where it can’t think. Wander. Retreat. Keep returning to breath, no thoughts. That is all.” 

“Five years from now you will wish you had started today.”

“To have a great trip, head toward an interest rather than to a place. Travel to passions rather than destinations.”

“It is impossible for you to become poor by giving. It is impossible for you to become wealthy without giving.”

“Try hard to solicit constructive criticism early. You want to hear what’s not working as soon as possible. When it is finished you can’t improve it.”

“There is no perfection, only progress. Done is much better than perfect.”

“Even if you don’t say anything, if you listen carefully, people will consider you a great conversationalist.”

“Art before laundry.”

“To succeed once, focus on the outcome; to keep succeeding, focus on the process that makes the outcome.”

“Being curious about another person’s view is the most powerful way to change their view.”

“If your sense of responsibility is not expanding as you grow, you are not really growing.”

“To write about something hard to explain, write a detailed letter to a friend about why it is so hard to explain, and then remove the initial “Dear Friend” part and you’ll have a great first draft.”

“Embrace pronoia, which is the opposite of paranoia. Choose to believe that the entire universe is conspiring behind your back to make you a success.”5

“The first step is usually to complete the last step. You can’t load into a full dish rack.”

“Re-visioning the ordinary is what art, literature, and comedy do. You can elevate mundane details into magical wonders simply by noticing them.”

“The chief prevention against getting old is to remain astonished.”

“Very few regrets in life are about what you did. Almost all are about what you didn’t do.”

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