Peter Thiel on Confidence Quotes

"Confidence comes from having a secret that no one else knows."

"The best businesses are those that are built on a secret that is true but unpopular."

"The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself."

"In a world of indefinite optimism, we lose the confidence to build big things."

"Indefinite optimism is a weirdly American phenomenon. It's the idea that the future will be better, but we don't know how."

"The best way to predict the future is to create it through deliberate action."

"A definite optimist has a plan for the future and believes that the future will be better than the present if he works to make it so."

"The best entrepreneurs are not risk-takers. They are risk-mitigators."

"The goal is to be a monopoly of one."

"The most successful people are those who can see things that others can't."

"You have to be able to tell a story about why the future is going to be better."

"You must be able to defend your ideas against the crowd if you want to succeed."

"Indefinite optimism is unsustainable because it leads to stagnation."

"You need to have the confidence to believe that the world is not as it seems."

"If you can’t find a way to be the best in the world at something, don’t do it."

"Higher education is the place where people who had big plans in high school get stuck in fierce rivalries with equally smart peers over conventional careers."

"The world is waiting for people with the confidence to change it."

"The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system."

"Education is a bubble because people don't know what they are doing and they are all doing the same thing."

"You should never be afraid to be different, because that is where the value lies."

"You should focus on one thing and do it better than anyone else."

"The challenge is that it’s very hard to think for yourself. It’s much easier to follow the crowd."

"The biggest secret in venture capital is that the best investment in a fund equals or outperforms the entire rest of the fund combined."

"A startup is the largest group of people you can convince of a plan to build a different future."

"You should not be a lottery ticket."

"Moving first is a tactic, not a goal."

"Never invest in a tech CEO that wears a suit."

"The future is a set of moments that have not yet happened, and it is up to us to shape them."

"The value of a business is the sum of all the money it will make in the future."

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk at all in a world that is changing rapidly."

"The most important thing is to have a plan for the future."

"Success is never accidental; it is a result of a definite plan."

"Every moment in business happens only once."