Quote

One of the strongest motives that leads men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness. Such men make this cosmos and its construction the pivot of their emotional life, in order to find the peace and security which they cannot find in the narrow whirlpool of personal experience.

Walter Isaacson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Walter Isaacson
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: May 20
Biographer
Journalist
Writer
New Orleans
Louisiana
Science
Leads
Cosmos
Art
Painful
Narrow
Order
Everyday
Hopeless
Cannot
Emotional
Construction
Dreariness
Find
Personal
Memorable
Whirlpool
Make
Security
Motive
Pivot
Men
Peace
Strongest
Whirlpools
Life
Experience
Escape
Motives

More quotes by Walter Isaacson

Image
We're all swimming in this digital revolution that we live in.
Walter Isaacson
Image
We have to compete in a universe of 200 networks, so we have to carve out our own niche, and to me, that niche is just basic shoe-leather journalism with some good journalists at the helm you can trust as presenters.
Walter Isaacson
Image
Physics should represent a reality in time and space, free from spooky action at a distance.
Walter Isaacson
Image
Politics is for the present, while our equations are for eternity.
Walter Isaacson
Image
If you truly have a passion for what you do, you will care even about the parts unseen.
Walter Isaacson
Image
Did Alexander Graham Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?
Walter Isaacson
Image
If you act like you can do something, then it will work.
Walter Isaacson
Image
The childhood that Paul and Clara Jobs created for their new son was, in many ways, a stereotype of the late 1950s. When Steve was two they adopted a girl they named Patty, and three years later they moved to a tract house in the suburbs.
Walter Isaacson
Image
Simply handing over your iPod to a friend, your blind date, or the total stranger sitting next to you on the plane opens you up like a book. (Steven Levy)
Walter Isaacson
Image
I think the biggest innovations of the twenty-first century will be the intersection of biology and technology. A new era is beginning, just like the digital one was when I was his age.
Walter Isaacson
Image
Jobs insisted that Apple focus on just two or three priorities at a time. “There is no one better at turning off the noise that is going on around him,” Cook said. “That allows him to focus on a few things and say no to many things. Few people are really good at that.
Walter Isaacson
Image
Polite and velvety leaders, who take care to avoid bruising others, are generally not as effective at forcing change.
Walter Isaacson
Image
I think it is valuable and should be valued by its consumers. Charging for content forces discipline on journalists: they must produce things that people actually value.
Walter Isaacson
Image
Smart people are a dime a dozen. What matters is the ability to think different... to think out of the box.
Walter Isaacson
Image
Mainly, the reason people who didn't succeed had trouble because they had trouble forming teams. They didn't know how to collaborate.
Walter Isaacson
Image
The older I get, the more I see how much motivations matter. The Zune was crappy because the people at Microsoft don’t really love music or art the way we do. We won because we personally love music.
Walter Isaacson
Image
One of the great pressures we're facing in journalism now is it's a lot cheaper to hire thumb suckers and pundits and have talk shows on the air than actually have bureaus and reporters
Walter Isaacson
Image
I think that notion of being a seeker, somebody who never felt totally fulfilled, but was always passionate about the search, that comes from the background, probably.
Walter Isaacson
Image
What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they’re dragging you down. They’re turning you into Microsoft. They’re causing you to turn out products that are adequate but not great.
Walter Isaacson
Image
On Startups: I hate it when people call themselves entrepreneurs when what they're really trying to do is launch a startup and then sell or go public, so they can cash in and move on.
Walter Isaacson