Dressing up is inevitably a substitute for good ideas. It is no coincidence that technically inept business types are known as "suits." - Paul Graham
At every period of history, people have believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you risked ostracism or even violence by saying otherwise. If our own time were any different, that would be remarkable. As far as I can tell it isn't. - Paul Graham
Keep your identity small. - Paul Graham
Being strong-willed is not enough, however. You also have to be hard on yourself. Someone who was strong-willed but self-indulgent would not be called determined. Determination implies your willfulness is balanced by discipline. - Paul Graham
You can't distinguish your group by doing things that are rational and believing things that are true. If you want to set yourself apart from other people you have to do things that are arbitrary and believe things that are false. - Paul Graham
Nerds don't just happen to dress informally. They do it too consistently. Consciously or not, they dress informally as a prophylactic measure against stupidity. - Paul Graham
For [a product] to surprise me, it must be satisfying expectations I didn't know I had. No focus group is going to discover those. Only a great designer can. - Paul Graham
People who write about politics, whether on the left or the right, have a consistent bias: they take politics seriously. - Paul Graham
It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower. - Paul Graham