Bad improvisers block action, often with a high degree of skill. Good improvisers develop action. Malcolm Gladwell More Quotes by Malcolm Gladwell More Quotes From Malcolm Gladwell It's not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five. It's whether or not our work fulfills us. Being a teacher is meaningful. Malcolm Gladwell successteachermeaningful In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours. Malcolm Gladwell successnumbersbelieve Economists often talk about the 80/20 Principle, which is the idea that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the “work” will be done by 20 percent of the participants. In most societies, 20 percent of criminals commit 80 percent of crimes. Twenty percent of motorists cause 80 percent of all accidents. Twenty percent of beer drinkers drink 80 percent of all beer. When it comes to epidemics, though, this disproportionality becomes even more extreme: a tiny percentage of people do the majority of the work. Malcolm Gladwell epidemicsbeerideas To be someone's best friend requires a minimum investment of time. More than that, though, it takes emotional energy. Caring about someone deeply is exhausting. Malcolm Gladwell emotionalcaringsuccess The conventional explanation for Jewish success, of course, is that Jews come from a literate, intellectual culture. They are famously "the people of the book." There is surely something to that. But it wasn't just the children of rabbis who went to law school. It was the children of garment workers. And their critical advantage in climbing the professional ladder wasn't the intellectual rigor you get from studying the Talmud. It was the practical intelligence and savvy you get from watching your father sell aprons on Hester Street. Malcolm Gladwell fatherbookchildren The single most important thing a city can do is provide a community where interesting, smart people want to live with their families. Malcolm Gladwell smartcitiespeople There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible. All you have to do is find it. Malcolm Gladwell informationsimpleway The Tipping Point is the biography of an idea, and the idea is very simple. It is that the best way to understand the emergence of fashion trends, the ebb and flow of crime waves, or, for that matter, the transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth, or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do. Malcolm Gladwell teenagefashionbook Working really hard is what successful people do. Malcolm Gladwell outlierssuccessfulpeople Often a sign of expertise is noticing what doesn't happen. Malcolm Gladwell noticingexpertisehappens Nobody accomplishes success by themselves. Malcolm Gladwell accomplish Success is deeply rooted in time and place. You may have the drive to read tons of books on biology. But if there are no books on biology in your library, and the library is never open, your drive is meaningless. Malcolm Gladwell librarymaybook The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Malcolm Gladwell magic-momentssuccessideas Once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That's it. And what's more, the people at the very top don't work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder. Malcolm Gladwell musicsuccessschool I know it sounds hard to believe, but habits laid down by our ancestors persist even after the conditions that created those habits have gone away. Malcolm Gladwell gone-awaysoundbelieve Through embracing the diversity of humans beings, we will find a sure way to true happiness. Malcolm Gladwell true-happinessdiversityway Emotion is contagious. Malcolm Gladwell entrepreneuremotionsuccess Cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and social and demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished, and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our world without them. Malcolm Gladwell our-worldpowerfulattitude Activism that challenges the status quo, that attacks deeply rooted problems, is not for the faint of heart. Malcolm Gladwell problemchallengesheart To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages today that determine success--the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history--with a society that provides opportunities for all. Malcolm Gladwell happy-accidentsopportunitytoday
