53 Most Brilliant Quotes by Walter Isaacson (WRITER)

Top 15 Most Famous Walter Isaacson Quotes (BEST)

“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
Walter Isaacson

Innovation requires having at least three things a great idea, the engineering talent to execute it, and the business savvy to turn it into a successful product. — **Innovation** requires having at least three things: a great idea, the engineering **talent** to execute it, and the **business** savvy to turn it into a successful product.

It's about doing something larger than yourself. It's about serving this world, helping others. — It’s about doing something larger than yourself. It’s about serving this world, helping others.

What matters most is the innovation you bring to your life's work. — What matters most is the **innovation** you bring to your life’s work.

When you write biographies, whether it's about Ben Franklin or Einstein, you discover something amazing They are human. — When you write biographies, whether it’s about **Ben Franklin** or **Einstein**, you discover something amazing: They are human.

“If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things – that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it.”
Walter Isaacson

Passion is worth suffering for. It's better to be in love than to be in control. — **Passion** is worth suffering for. It’s better to be in **love** than to be in control.

Smart people are a dime a dozen. What matters is the ability to think different… to think out of the box. — Smart people are a dime a dozen. What matters is the **ability** to think different… to think out of the box.

The art of leadership is being able to make people believe in you, even if you don't believe in yourself. — The art of **leadership** is being able to make people believe in you, even if you don’t **believe** in yourself.

I think it's a good thing for people to spend time alone. It gives them an opportunity to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone. — I think it’s a good thing for people to spend **time** alone. It gives them an **opportunity** to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone.

“What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they’re dragging you down. They’re turning you into Microsoft. They’re causing you to turn out products that are adequate but not great.”
Walter Isaacson

One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes are.

The most successful and creative people are those who are willing to fail the most. — The most **successful** and creative people are those who are willing to **fail** the most.

In the first 30 years of your life, you make your habits. For the last 30 years of your life, your habits make you. — In the first 30 years of your **life**, you make your **habits**. For the last 30 years of your life, your habits make you.

The digital age has made it easy for people to be good at being busy while failing to do what counts.

9 Walter Isaacson Quotes About Creativity & Innovation

“If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away. The more the outside world tries to reinforce an image of you, the harder it is to continue to be an artist, which is why a lot of times, artists have to say, ‘Bye. I have to go. I’m going crazy and I’m getting out of here.’ And they go and hibernate somewhere. Maybe later they re-emerge a little differently.”
Walter Isaacson

I hope that some day scientists can be considered heroes again, instead of Paris Hilton. — I hope that some day scientists can be considered heroes again, instead of **Paris Hilton**.

People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint.

Picasso had a saying - 'good artists copy, great artists steal' - and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas. — **Picasso** had a saying – ‘good artists copy, great artists steal’ – and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.

“‘The people who invented the twenty-first century were pot-smoking, sandal-wearing hippies from the West Coast like Steve, because they saw differently, he said. The hierarchical systems of the East Coast, England, Germany, and Japan do not encourage this different thinking. The sixties produced an anarchic mind-set that is great for imagining a world not yet in existence.”
Walter Isaacson

It's the human spirit to want to be curious about the unknown, to walk down an unexplored path. — It’s the human spirit to want to be curious about the unknown, to walk down an unexplored path.

If you truly have a passion for what you do, you will care even about the parts unseen. — If you truly have a **passion** for what you do, you will care even about the parts unseen.

I think that's exactly what Silicon Valley was all about in those days. Let's do a startup in our parents' garage and try to create a business. — I think that’s exactly what Silicon Valley was all about in those days. Let’s do a **startup** in our parents’ garage and try to create a **business**.

“I think the biggest innovations of the twenty-first century will be the intersection of biology and technology. A new era is beginning, just like the digital one was when I was his age.”
Walter Isaacson

8 Inspirational Walter Isaacson Quotes on Success

If you act like you can do something, then it will work.

Vision without execution is hallucination. — **Vision** without execution is hallucination.

You have to be patient. It's not about taking the first offer, but the best offer. — You have to be **patient**. It’s not about taking the first offer, but the best offer.

For some people, miracles serve as evidence of God's existence. — For some people, **miracles** serve as evidence of God’s existence.

The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think, he [Einstein] said. — The value of a college **education** is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think, he [**Einstein**] said.

I think that we shouldn't be fixated all the time on the ups and downs of the weekly ratings, of the quarter-hour ratings. — I think that we shouldn’t be fixated all the time on the ups and downs of the weekly ratings, of the quarter-hour ratings.

Pretend to be completely in control and people will assume that you are.

I like people who can fail and learn from it.

4 Walter Isaacson Quotes on Leonardo da Vinci

“We relate to Leonardo da Vinci because his genius was just being passionately curious about everything. He wanted to know everything he could know about our universe, including how we fit into it. We can’t all have a superhuman intellect like Albert Einstein‘s, but we can be super-curious. And we can also quit smashing curiosity out of the hands our children.”
Walter Isaacson

“Leonardo da Vinci had such a playful curiosity. If you read his notebooks, you’ll see he’s curious about what the tongue of a woodpecker looks like, but also why the sky is blue, or how an emotion forms on somebody’s lips. He understood the beauty of everything. I’ve admired Leonardo my whole life, both as a kid who loved engineering – he was one of the coolest engineers in history – and then as a college student, when I travelled to see his notebooks and paintings.”
Walter Isaacson

“The Mona Lisa, to me, is the greatest emotional painting ever done. The way the smile flickers makes it a work of both art and science, because Leonardo understood optics, and the muscles of the lips, and how light strikes the eye – all of it goes into making the Mona Lisa’s smile so mysterious and elusive.”
Walter Isaacson

“I think Leonardo da Vinci teaches us the value of both being focused on things that fascinate us but also, at times, being distracted and deciding to pursue some shiny new idea that you happen to stumble upon. Balancing intense focus with being interested in a whole lot of different things is something that we have to do in the Internet age.”
Walter Isaacson

12 Walter Isaacson Quotes About Steve Jobs

“Yeah, I think that his great creation was not any one product but a company in which creativity was connected to great engineering. And that will survive at least while the current people who trained under Steve are there.”
Walter Isaacson

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. — The best way to predict the **future** is to invent it.

Steve Jobs had a tendency to see things in a binary way A person was either a hero or a bozo, a product was either amazing or shit. — Steve Jobs had a tendency to see things in a binary way: A person was either a hero or a bozo, a product was either amazing or shit.

“On the day he unveiled the Macintosh, a reporter from Popular Science asked Jobs what type of market research he had done. Jobs responded by scoffing, ‘Did Alexander Graham Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?’
Walter Isaacson

You should never start a company with the goal of getting rich. Your goal should be making something you believe in and making a company that will last. — You should never start a company with the goal of getting rich. Your goal should be making something you **believe** in and making a company that will last.

“The older I get, the more I see how much motivations matter. The Zune was crappy because the people at Microsoft don’t really love music or art the way we do. We won because we personally love music.”
Walter Isaacson

I think that genius comes not just from having great mental processing power. It comes from being able to, as Steve Jobs' ad said, think different. — I think that **genius** comes not just from having great mental processing power. It comes from being able to, as **Steve Jobs**‘ ad said, think different.

I've asked Jobs why he didn't get an operation then and he said, 'I didn't want my body to be opened. I didn't want to be violated in that way.' — I’ve asked Jobs why he didn’t get an operation then and he said, ‘I didn’t want my body to be opened. I didn’t want to be violated in that way.’

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
Walter Isaacson

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

“Jobs insisted that Apple focus on just two or three priorities at a time. ‘There is no one better at turning off the noise that is going on around him,’ Cook said. ‘That allows him to focus on a few things and say no to many things. Few people are really good at that.'”
Walter Isaacson

If you can't keep him interested, that's your fault. — If you can’t keep him interested, that’s your fault.

5 Deep Walter Isaacson Quotes that will Make You Think

“We are in a situation with the huge stimulus package that’s going to be spent all across this nation and a big financial crisis and banking crisis. And what we need is good, trained journalists who can play the role of watchdog.”
Walter Isaacson