As it’s the first non-fiction post of 2025, I thought I’d begin the year with a collection of quotes and aphorisms I picked up over the course of 2024; things I intend to keep top of mind when venturing through the year ahead.

As I see it, a good quote is something like a compass. Little gems that condense the vast and complex terrain of big ideas into miniature maps. After all, the biggest challenge isn’t always dealing with the relentless minutiae of the day-to-day, but making sure each decision keeps us moving in the right direction.

Hopefully some of these will come in handy as you navigate endeavours across the year ahead…

• “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin

• “You have to be run by ideas, not hierarchy. The best ideas have to win.” – Steve Jobs

• “Being efficient without regards to effectiveness if the default mode of the universe. It’s very easy to mistake motion for progress.” – Tim Ferriss

• “What makes a decision great is not that it has a great outcome. A great decision is the result of a good process, and that process must include an attempt to accurately represent our own state of knowledge.“ – Annie Duke

• “The early adopters don’t ask for proof, but something to believe in.” – Seth Godin

• “Performance drives success, but when performance can’t be measured, networks drive success.” – Albert-László Barabási

• “It is the artists who reveal a society to itself.” – Harry Belafonte

• “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein

• “If you put ten people in a room and they have to choose an ice cream flavor, they’re gonna arrive at vanilla. There is always constant pressure to conform. But originality only happens on the edges of reality. And working on that line is always dangerous because it’s only a short step to disconnected insanity. So resist temptations and advice to play to the middle. The best work always comes from pushing the edge.” – Darren Aronofsky