Peter Thiel on Deep Work Quotes

"Intense concentration is the price of entry for vertical progress."

"Focus on the one thing that will make everything else easier or unnecessary."

"The power law means that a small number of things contribute the vast majority of the value."

"Poor distribution—not product—is the number one cause of failure."

"If you are doing what everyone else is doing, you are not focused on the right things."

"You cannot build a great company on a foundation of multitasking."

"You should focus relentlessly on something you’re good at doing, and before you do it, you should think hard about whether it will be valuable in the future."

"Indefinite optimism—where you expect the future to be better but don't know how—is a recipe for stagnation."

"Competition is for losers. If you want to create and capture lasting value, look to build a monopoly."

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

"The best startups might be considered slightly less extreme forms of monopolies. Scaling is about capturing that value."

"If you can identify a secret, you have a chance to build something that actually matters."

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

"You must be able to focus on the one thing you are doing and ignore everything else."

"If you can’t think of a single thing you’re doing that’s different from everyone else, you’re in trouble."

"The single most important thing is to have a mission. You need a reason for being that is more than just making money."

"Vertical progress means doing new things—going from 0 to 1. Vertical progress is harder to imagine because it requires doing something nobody else has ever done."

"The goal is not to be busy. The goal is to be effective."

"The only way to win an iterated game is to ensure that your partner also wins."

"The best projects are the ones where you can see the end from the beginning."

"Monopolies are not just better for the business; they are better for the employees because they allow for the luxury of thinking long-term."

"Doing something different is what's truly good for society – and it's also what allows a business to profit by monopolizing a new market."

"Don't disrupt. Avoid competition."

"Don't just do something because it's trendy. Do it because it's the most important thing you could be doing."

"The ability to execute on a single idea is what separates the winners from the dreamers."

"We have a lot of people who are working very hard, but they are working on things that don't matter."

"The most important work is often the work that looks like nothing is happening to the outside world."

"In a world where everything is moving faster, the ability to slow down and think clearly is a competitive advantage."

"We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters."

"A business with a good plan is better than a business with no plan, but a business with a great plan is a monopoly."

"The challenge for the entrepreneur is to find the intersection between what is possible and what is ignored."

"Great companies are built on things that are true but that most people don't believe in."

"You should only start a company if you have a specific problem you want to solve that no one else is solving."