Paul Graham Quotes
Verified quotes on first principles, startup thinking, power dynamics.
“The way to succeed in a startup is not to be an expert on startups, but to be an expert on your users and the problem you're solving for them.”
“To get rich you need to get yourself in a situation with two things, measurement and leverage. You need to be in a position where your performance can be measured, or there is no way to get paid more by doing more. And you have to have leverage, in the sense that the decisions you make have a big effect.”
“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.”
“We can imagine will and discipline as two fingers squeezing a slippery melon seed. The harder they squeeze, the further the seed flies, but they must both squeeze equally or the seed spins off sideways.”
“In most domains, talent is overrated compared to determination—partly because it makes a better story, partly because it gives onlookers an excuse for being lazy, and partly because after a while determination starts to look like talent.”
“If determination is effectively the product of will and discipline, then you can become more determined by being more disciplined.”
“Startups are not magic. They don't change the laws of wealth creation. They just represent a point at the far end of the curve. There is a conservation law at work here: if you want to make a million dollars, you have to endure a million dollars' worth of pain.”
“What is technology? It's technique. It's the way we all do things. And when you discover a new way to do things, its value is multiplied by all the people who use it. It is the proverbial fishing rod, rather than the fish.”
“If willfulness and discipline are what get you to your destination, ambition is how you choose it.”
“A startup is like a mosquito. A bear can absorb a hit and a crab is armored against one, but a mosquito is designed for one thing: to score. No energy is wasted on defense.”
“Great cities attract ambitious people. You can sense it when you walk around one. In a hundred subtle ways, the city sends you a message: you could do more; you should try harder.”
“If you're in a job that feels safe, you are not going to get rich, because if there is no danger there is almost certainly no leverage.”
“The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It's to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself.”