Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes

by Morgan Housel

Mark Twain said, “Humor is a way to show you’re smart without bragging.”

Jeff Bezos once said, “The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There’s something wrong with the way you are measuring it.”

“Everything feels unprecedented when you haven’t engaged with history,” writer Kelly Hayes once wrote.

“The greatest impediment to creativity is your impatience, the almost inevitable desire to hurry up the process, express something, and make a splash.”

The unhappiest people of the world are those in the international watering places like the South Coast of France, and Newport, and Palm Springs, and Palm Beach. Going to parties every night. Playing golf every afternoon. Drinking too much. Talking too much. Thinking too little. Retired. No purpose. So while there are those that would totally disagree with this and say “Gee, if I could just be a millionaire! That would be the most wonderful thing.” If I could just not have to work every day, if I could just be out fishing or hunting or playing golf or traveling, that would be the most wonderful life in the world—they don’t know life. Because what makes life mean something is purpose. A goal. The battle, the struggle—even if you don’t win it.

No one cheers for hardship—nor should they—but we should recognize that it’s the most potent fuel of problem-solving, serving as both the root of what we enjoy today and the seed of opportunity for what we’ll enjoy tomorrow.

Warren Buffett says it takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to destroy one.

The irony is that growth and progress are way more powerful than setbacks. But setbacks will always get more attention because of how fast they occur.

That’s the balance—planning like a pessimist and dreaming like an optimist.

Humphry Davy created an electric light called an arc lamp, using charcoal rods as a filament.

“The grass is always greener on the side that’s fertilized with bullshit,”

You never know what struggles people are hiding.

Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”

The sore truth is that complexity sells better. Of course it does. We see that everywhere. To take a simple example: The U.S. Constitution is 7,591 words. Compare that to the average mortgage contract, which is over 15,000 words, and Apple’s iCloud terms of service agreement, which is 7,314 words. The U.S. tax code is over 11 million words.

Complexity gives a comforting impression of control, while simplicity is hard to distinguish from cluelessness.

“What have you experienced that I haven’t that makes you believe what you do? And would I think about the world like you do if I experienced what you have?”