Quotes from Malcolm Gladwell

A few years later, she deliberately drove her car into a river—then, in typical fashion, wrote a poem about it: And like the cat I have nine times to die. This is Number Three.

It's a strange thing to admit, because I didn't want to be drawn in, I was on guard against it, but the essence of salesmen is that on some level, they cannot be resisted.

We were able to establish guilt," Giobbi said, "by closely observing the suspect's psychological and behavioral reaction during the interrogation. We don't need to rely on other kinds of investigation.

put down the roots, and the rabbits and lumberjacks they were lucky enough to avoid? This is not

Algunos de estos nuevos pensadores afirman que si tuviésemos un mejor servicio de información, si pudiésemos verlo todo, no podríamos perder», dice el coronel Van Riper. «Lo que mi hermano dice siempre es: "Imagínate que estás mirando un tablero de ajedrez. ¿Hay algo que no veas? No. ¿Y eso te garantiza la victoria? Ni mucho menos, porque nunca podrás ver lo que está pensando el otro".

Much of what we are told to read and watch, we simply don't remember. The Information Age has created a stickiness problem, but Leventhal and Wonderman's examples suggest that there may be simple ways to enhance stickiness, and systematically engineer stickiness into a message. This is a fact of obvious importance to marketers, teachers, and managers.

Whatever mechanism passes on speech patterns probably passes on behavioral and emotional patterns as well.

The most expensive single undertaking of the Second World War was the B-29 Bomber, the Superfortress. The second most expensive was the Manhattan Project, the massive, unprecedented effort to invent and build the world's first atomic bomb. But the third most expensive project of the war? Not a bomb, not a plane, not a tank, not a gun, not a ship. It was the Norden bombsight.

It is, rather, a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities—and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.

Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing; others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth. Proverbs 13:7

standard immigrant-entrepreneur story is about the redemptive power of grit and ingenuity.

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.

harvest   28   13.6 Haymaking and carting   24   11.7 Threshing 130

In the end, tipping points are a reaffirmation of a potential for change and the power of intelligent action. Look at the world around you: It may seem like an immovable, implacable place; it is not. With the slightest push, in just the right place, it can be tipped.

We are also prone to be afraid of being afraid, and the conquering of fear produces exhilaration.…When we have been afraid that we may panic in an air-raid, and, when it has happened, we have exhibited to others nothing but a calm exterior and we are now safe, the contrast between the previous apprehension and the present relief and feeling of security promotes a self-confidence that is the very father and mother of courage.

1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body

Just under a third of the time, the weaker country wins.

We accept the fact that being a parent requires a fundamental level of trust in the community of people around your child. If every coach is assumed to be a podophile, then no parent would ever let their child leave the house. And no sane person would ever volunteer to be a coach. We default to truth even when that decision carries terrible risks because we have no choice. Society cannot function otherwise.

A giant inverted steel pyramid is perfectly balanced on its point. Any movement of the pyramid will cause it to topple over. Underneath the pyramid is a $100 bill. How do you remove the bill without disturbing the pyramid?

Then he released on Cuban television an astonishing eleven-part documentary entitled La Guerra de la CIA contra Cuba—The CIA's War against Cuba. Cuban intelligence, it turned out, had filmed and recorded everything the CIA had been doing in their country for at least ten years—as if they were creating a reality show. Survivor: Havana Edition.

just dumb enough to be fearless, just bright enough to be dangerous

Goliath is not quite the giant he thinks he is.

In those rare cases where trust ends in betrayal, those victimized by default to truth, deserve our sympathy, not censure.

If everyone needs to think outside the box, maybe it is the box that needs fixing.