Authors Archive

Moby

Musician and DJ (1965-present)

Quotes By Moby

Happiness

Music is one of the healthiest forms of transcendence and magic.

Moby

Featured Image Credit: MSU Studio/ The Photo Access/ Alamy Stock Photo

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Patti Smith

Singer, songwriter, and poet (1946-present)

Patti Smith is an icon of rock music, art, and literature. Born in 1946 in Chicago and raised in New Jersey, Smith knew from a young age she wanted to be an artist and started doing poetry readings in New York City in the early 1970s. In 1975, she burst...

Patti Smith is an icon of rock music, art, and literature. Born in 1946 in Chicago and raised in New Jersey, Smith knew from a young age she wanted to be an artist and started doing poetry readings in New York City in the early 1970s. In 1975, she burst onto the music scene with her debut album Horses, an avant-garde revelation of poetic intensity that helped herald a new era of punk music, leading Smith to be dubbed the “punk poet laureate.”

Smith’s career has spanned decades and disciplines. Her memoir Just Kids, released in 2010, is a touching look at her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe as they navigated their struggling-artist years together in 1960s and ’70s New York; it won the National Book Award for nonfiction. Smith released several other critically acclaimed albums, poetry collections, two more memoirs, and a photography book. She remains a cultural force today, continually touring and using social media to document her unwavering commitment to creative freedom.

Quotes By Patti Smith

Wisdom

In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.

Patti Smith

Happiness

The transformation of the heart is a wondrous thing, no matter how you land there.

Patti Smith

Hope

In times of strife, we have our imagination, we have our creative impulse.

Patti Smith

Happiness

Be happy, take care of your teeth, always let your conscience be your guide.

Patti Smith

Wisdom

We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves.

Patti Smith

Featured Image Credit: Gijsbert Hanekroot/ Redferns via Getty Images

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Kevin Kelly

Editor and publisher (1952-present)

Kevin Kelly describes himself as a radical optimist, and given his career covering the frontiers of technology, the title certainly fits. Best known for co-founding Wired magazine in 1993, Kelly played a key role in shaping the narrative of the digital age. Born in 1952 in Pennsylvania, Kelly grew up...

Kevin Kelly describes himself as a radical optimist, and given his career covering the frontiers of technology, the title certainly fits. Best known for co-founding Wired magazine in 1993, Kelly played a key role in shaping the narrative of the digital age.

Born in 1952 in Pennsylvania, Kelly grew up with a keen interest in science and art. After a short time studying geology at the University of Rhode Island, he moved to Asia, where he spent years traveling to various countries and taking hundreds of photographs. After returning to the U.S. in the early 1980s, he started working as an editor with Whole Earth, a counterculture magazine beloved by tech enthusiasts. Around the same time, Kelly was also instrumental in founding the WELL, an early and influential online community.

Kelly’s perspective has had a lasting impact on how we understand the intersection of technology, society, and the future. His influential books, including The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future (2016), explore the evolving relationship between humans and the tools we create.

Quotes By Kevin Kelly

Wisdom

The best work ethic requires a good rest ethic.

Kevin Kelly

Happiness

The chief prevention against getting old is to remain astonished.

Kevin Kelly

Motivation

Your passions should fit you exactly but your purpose in life should exceed you.

Kevin Kelly

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Sheryl Sandberg

Quotes By Sheryl Sandberg

Wisdom

The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.

Sheryl Sandberg

Wisdom

The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.

Sheryl Sandberg

Featured Image Credit: Sipa USA/ Alamy Stock Photo

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Nadine Gordimer

Quotes By Nadine Gordimer

Wisdom

The truth isn’t always beauty, but the hunger for it is.

Nadine Gordimer

Featured Image Credit: roger tillberg/ Alamy Stock Photo

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Yohannes Gebregeorgis

Quotes By Yohannes Gebregeorgis

Wisdom

The beginning of wisdom is to do away with fear.

Yohannes Gebregeorgis

Featured Image Credit: John Shearer/ WireImage via Getty Images

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Barbara Kingsolver

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer (1955-present)

Quotes By Barbara Kingsolver

Wisdom

Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.

Barbara Kingsolver

Wisdom

The changes we dread most may contain our salvation.

Barbara Kingsolver

Featured Image Credit: David Levenson via Getty Images

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Susan Sontag

Writer and cultural critic (1933-2004)

Susan Sontag was a rare figure: a critic who became a cultural celebrity. Born in 1933 in New York City but raised primarily in Los Angeles, Sontag was educated at a number of esteemed institutions including the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and, for a short time, the University of...

Susan Sontag was a rare figure: a critic who became a cultural celebrity. Born in 1933 in New York City but raised primarily in Los Angeles, Sontag was educated at a number of esteemed institutions including the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and, for a short time, the University of Oxford. She embodied intellectual curiosity and her fame, though relatively unconventional, wasn’t inexplicable: Her philosophical and authoritative approach to mainstream topics made for unique and captivating perspectives.

Seminal essays such as 1964’s “Notes on ‘Camp’”reframed cultural conversations around aesthetics, while Sontag’s books On Photography and Illness as Metaphor — written after she underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer in the mid-1970s — challenged entrenched ideas about representation, illness, and identity. Sontag’s writing also transcended genres — her 1999 novel In America won a National Book Award for Fiction. Sontag died in 2004 at the age of 71.

Quotes By Susan Sontag

Wisdom

I want to make a New Year’s prayer, not a resolution. I’m praying for courage.

Susan Sontag

Happiness

I want to be able to be alone, to find it nourishing — not just a waiting.

Susan Sontag

Hope

Get up quickly — just switch on the white light of the will.

Susan Sontag

Wisdom

A novel worth reading is an education of the heart.

Susan Sontag

Love

Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers.

Susan Sontag

Featured Image Credit: Brownie Harris/ Corbis Historical via Getty Images

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Brené Brown

Researcher and storyteller (1965-present)

In 2010, Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, delivered a TED talk that went viral. Its core themes of courage and vulnerability struck a chord with audiences, and ultimately paved the way for what The New York Times dubbed Brown’s “empire of emotion.” Brown went on...

In 2010, Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, delivered a TED talk that went viral. Its core themes of courage and vulnerability struck a chord with audiences, and ultimately paved the way for what The New York Times dubbed Brown’s “empire of emotion.” Brown went on to write six bestselling books, including Daring Greatly — a term that’s now used as a kind of lifestyle approach among fans — and Braving the Wilderness. She also hosts the highly regarded podcast Unlocking Us.

Born in 1965 in San Antonio, Texas, Brown built her academic career as a researcher studying shame, empathy, and resilience. Her ability to imbue that research with wisdom and turn it into vulnerable, relatable stories have helped people redefine how they think about relationships and self-worth — and given them the courage to live as authentically as possible.

Quotes By Brené Brown

Hope

Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.

Brené Brown