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Magnus Carlsen

Norwegian chess grandmaster; World Chess Champion 2013–2023

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Not very well. I try to win the next one. I've always been told that you should win and lose with a smile, but since I became a professional, I've thought the best way of learning to deal with defeat is not to lose.

On-stage interview, Milken Institute Global Conference, Los Angeles, Chess.com, 5 May 2017 source ↗

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Daniel Ek Co-founder and former chief executive of Spotify
Many people talk about a willingness to have failures. I hate failures. I don't think you should strike to make failures. I think it's OK to make mistakes – but by the time they become real failures, you probably should have discovered them much earlier.
Recorded Slush conference, Helsinki, Music Ally, 30 November 2016 source ↗
David Vélez Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
The second thing there was another thing I learned at Sequoia is that the culture of a business is built in the first six months by the first ten to 15 employees. These are magical, really, really important times. And I used to hear a lot even at Sequoia, a lot of entrepreneurs saying, “Hey, I'm too busy to think about culture. When we become a unicorn, when we grow, I'll worry about culture.” And for whoever has kids, it's almost like saying I'm too busy about educating my kids. When they turn 18, then I'll figure it out. Too late.
Recorded John Waldron, Goldman Sachs Talks, Goldman Sachs (official event transcript) source ↗
Sonny Rollins Jazz tenor saxophonist and composer
The life of a jazz musician is a difficult life, because you want to play, you want to be, you want to get to the inner spirit and sometimes you drink or you use drugs or you smoke a lot. You do all these things to try to get the spirit out. So it’s a difficult existence and a lot of the great people that I have known, and in history, they kind of over-indulge, and they never sort of are able to balance their musical life with their personal life. Maybe it’s not necessary to do that. That is another question, I don’t know, but I’d like to see young musicians coming up that don’t smoke and that don’t drink to excess and don’t use drugs, and don’t sort of debilitate themselves. I think that’s where we should go. I think that is what guys should be doing. I don’t think you have to drink and use drugs to play good jazz, but that’s been the model for so long that a lot of guys get caught up in that, you know.
Recorded Academy of Achievement (achievement.org) source ↗
Terence Tao Mathematician; Fields Medallist, 2006
AI without validation is too unreliable to be of use in any serious application.
Recorded Quanta Magazine reporter, Reported interview, Quanta Magazine, 13 April 2026 source ↗

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Question What are you best at that nobody watching would notice? Craft & work
What kind of talent I had when I was really young was that I was able to concentrate on something for a really long time. My interest didn't really wane...That's been my main advantage. I've never been the one to grasp things the quickest, but I never stopped learning as soon as I became interested in a subject.
Recorded On-stage interview, Milken Institute Global Conference, Los Angeles, Chess.com, 5 May 2017 source ↗
Question What does the first hour of your day look like? Daily life
I would want to be a role model. As you talk about an athlete who wakes up at seven every day, then you have two training sessions...for me, it's not like that. I definitely think about chess all the time. I work at chess every day but it's not like I have a routine. It's always been based on inspiration for me. Fortunately, I haven't run out of inspiration yet...Sometimes I play better when I haven't slept that much, because you kind of play more creative.
Recorded On-stage interview, Milken Institute Global Conference, Los Angeles, Chess.com, 5 May 2017 source ↗

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