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Malcolm Gladwell

Quotes & Wisdom

Portrait of Malcolm Gladwell, famous for their inspirational quotes and wisdom

Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist and author whose books have sold over 20 million copies by making social science research feel like detective stories. From The Tipping Point to Outliers, he has a singular talent for finding the surprising pattern hidden in plain sight.

Gladwell's gift is reframing familiar phenomena through unfamiliar lenses — hockey birth dates explaining success, broken windows explaining crime, connectors explaining epidemics. Critics argue he oversimplifies; readers argue he illuminates. Both are right.

Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.
— Malcolm Gladwell
from Outliers
Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.
— Malcolm Gladwell
from Outliers
Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning. Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig.
— Malcolm Gladwell
from Outliers
It is those who are successful who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.
— Malcolm Gladwell
from Outliers
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.
— Malcolm Gladwell
from The Tipping Point
Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push — in just the right place — it can be tipped.
— Malcolm Gladwell
from The Tipping Point
There are exceptional people out there who are capable of starting epidemics. All you have to do is find them.
— Malcolm Gladwell
from The Tipping Point

Books by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers

Outliers

2008

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point

2000