Paul Graham on Learning Quotes

"Adults are not just older children."

"You want to be the person who notices things that are missing."

"Writing about something teaches you what you think."

"The secret to doing great work is to be curious."

"You need to be confident enough to ask for help."

"Economic inequality is not a single problem. It's a symptom of several different things, some of them good and some of them bad."

"There is no correlation between being good at school and being good at startups."

"The best way to learn how to build a startup is to build a startup. There's no substitute for experience."

"If you want to find the future, look at what the smartest people are doing in their spare time."

"Wealth is not the same thing as money. Wealth is as old as human history. Money is a comparatively recent invention. Wealth is the fundamental thing. Wealth is stuff we want: food, clothes, houses, cars, gadgets, travel to interesting places, and so on."

"The most important thing is to have a project. You learn by making things."

"The best way to get new ideas is to work on hard problems."

"The best way to be creative is to keep your mind open to new possibilities."

"The best way to learn how to build a startup is to build one."

"The most damaging thing you learned in school wasn't something you learned in a specific class. It was learning to get good grades."

"Writing doesn't just communicate ideas; it generates them."

"Don't be afraid to fail. Failure is just a way to learn what doesn't work."

"The most dangerous thing is to be a conformist without knowing it."

"The most important thing is to be able to think."

"Lisp is worth learning for the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it."

"The best founders are the ones who are most willing to admit when they're wrong."

"The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away."

"Writing is not just a way to record thoughts, but a way to have them."

"The best way to learn how to make something is to look at how other people have made it."

"The best way to have a great vision is to follow your curiosity."

"An essay is something you write to try to figure something out."