Deciding what to do next

Poet, essayist and translator

I started reading poetry in primary school—Victor Hugo, the romantics, and the Parnassians—they were part of the curriculum.

Recorded · The Paris Review, Issue 131, Summer 1994 · 1994

Novelist, poet and essayist

Books aren’t just commodities; the profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable — but then, so did the divine right of kings.

Recorded · ursulakleguin.com (the author's own site) · 2014

42nd President of the United States, 1993–2001

If I had to make the welfare decision again tomorrow, I’d sign it again tomorrow. We had a 60 percent reduction in the welfare rolls.

Recorded · Academy of Achievement

English television presenter

I won't allow people's shit limit what I do.

Recorded · Harper's Bazaar · 2015

Painter, draughtsman, printmaker and photographer

I thought I was a hedonist at the time, but when I look back I was always working. I am always working. I work every day. I never give parties; I never gave them.

Recorded · The Guardian · 2015

Founder of the Green Belt Movement; Member of Parliament for Tetu, Kenya, 2002–2007; Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources 2003–2005

Initially, the work was difficult because historically our people have been persuaded to believe that because they are poor, they lack not only capital, but also knowledge and skills to…

Recorded · The Nobel Foundation · 2004

44th President of the United States, 2009–2017; United States Senator from Illinois 2005–2008

There are some things about being president that I still have difficulty doing. … For example, faking emotion. Because I feel it is an insult to the people I'm dealing with.

Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2012

Playwright, poet and novelist; Nobel laureate in Literature, 1986

That’s a very good question. I think I’m a very lazy writer and by that I mean that I do not battle, I don’t struggle too hard against it.

Recorded · NobelPrize.org (Nobel Prize Outreach) · 2005

Canadian singer-songwriter

I think now, especially with Love & Hyperbole, I was like, let me just write the best thing that I can make for myself. Totally intuitively.

Recorded · HATC Magazine · 2025

Chef, restaurateur and food activist

There’s no such thing as cheap food. It can be affordable, but it can never be cheap.

Recorded · Earth Island Journal · 2015

Film director and screenwriter

There were times when I thought I wanted to be a cartoonist. If I weren’t a film director, I think cartoons would have been a good alternative.

Recorded · Polygon · 2019

Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, 1978–2023

The highest form that civilization can reach is a seamless web of deserved trust. Not much procedure, just totally reliable people correctly trusting one another.

Recorded · Speakola · 2007

Photojournalist and war photographer; Pulitzer Prize winner, 2009

I think I naturally felt like I needed to pull back, and maybe that’s one of the reasons why I decided to get pregnant then because I was 37, and I had Lukas at 38.

Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)

Co-founder of Viaweb and of the startup accelerator Y Combinator; essayist

When I ask myself what I've found life is too short for, the word that pops into my head is “bullshit.” I realize that answer is somewhat tautological.

Recorded · paulgraham.com · 2016

Australian actor

There’s been a lot of stuff that I turned down.

Recorded · The Guardian · 2025

Theoretical physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics, 1965

the colonel said I shouldn't tell them how the neutrons work and all the details because we want to keep things separate, so just tell them what to do to keep it safe.

Recorded · Engineering and Science / Caltech Magazine · 1976

United States artistic gymnast

I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a back seat, work on my mindfulness.

Recorded · Rev · 2021

Novelist and essayist

Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.

Recorded · The Guardian · 2010

Developmental biologist; Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 1995

I felt at the time that Eric was much more successful than I, he was extremely productive during his time in Zurich, and worked on many very original projects, germ line, cell lineage, sex…

Recorded · Nobel Prize Outreach · 1995

Actor and film-maker; host of the Armchair Expert podcast

I would always be tempted to take a movie I liked less if the payday was twice as much, and I’ve interviewed a couple people that grew up with wealth and I’ve watched them navigate their…

Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2020

Film director; Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan

I think I’ve always been jealous of musicians. You hear the story where Bob Dylan wrote a song in the afternoon and it became the anthem for a generation.

Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018

Mathematician and computer scientist; Turing Award, 1968

I worked for ten years with John Tukey at Bell Labs. He had tremendous drive. One day about three or four years after I joined, I discovered that John Tukey was slightly younger than I was.

Recorded · Bell Communications Research Colloquium Seminar (transcription hosted by the University of Virginia Department of Computer Science) · 1986

Neuroscientist; professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley

there were a group of scientists from the University of Geneva who conducted a brilliant study.

Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2023

Author and probability researcher; Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at NYU

I say envious of people who are erudite. Like if someone knows Latin very well, I’m envious. If someone knows Sanskrit, I’m envious. And I discovered that early on.

Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2023