Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

by Keith Ferrazzi

SUCCESS IN LIFE = (THE PEOPLE YOU MEET) + (WHAT YOU CREATE TOGETHER).

Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone. —Margaret Wheatley

I’ve come to believe that connecting is one of the most important business—and life—skill sets you’ll ever learn.

There is no such thing as a “self-made” man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success. —George Burton Adams

Bottom line: It’s better to give before you receive. And never keep score. If your interactions are ruled by generosity, your rewards will follow suit.

The more specific you are about what you want to do, the easier it becomes to develop a strategy to accomplish it.

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” That marvelous definition drives home a very important point. Before you start writing down your goals, you’d better know what your dream is. Otherwise, you might find yourself headed for a destination you never wanted to get to in the first place.

Seize this very minute; what you can do, or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I remind myself how people with a low tolerance for risk, whose behavior is guided by fear, have a low propensity for success.

The choice isn’t between success and failure; it’s between choosing risk and striving for greatness, or risking nothing and being certain of mediocrity.

the playwright Samuel Beckett wrote, “Fail, fail again. Fail better.”