Penelope Trunk:

Stop talking about time like you need to save it. You just need to use it better.

Colin Marshall:

Who doesn't want to be more productive?

Merlin Mann:

People wanted nonsense. People wanted something to distract them for a little while.

Peter Bregman:

Sure I might want to watch an episode of Weeds before going to sleep. But should I? It really is hard to stop after just one episode. And two hours later, I'm entertained and tired, but am I really better off? Or would it have been better to get seven hours of sleep instead of five?

So why is this a problem? It sounds like I was super-productive. Every extra minute, I was either producing or consuming.

But something -- more than just sleep, though that's critical too -- is lost in the busyness. Something too valuable to lose.

Boredom.

Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that's where creativity arises.

Molly Young:

The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that the first kind gain momentum from boredom and the second kind don't.

Caterina Fake:

Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on.

Nancy Folbre:

We constantly exhort young people to invest in their human capital. But investments in human capital, like those in real estate, don't always yield a reliably high market rate of return.

Middle-class culture in the United States rests on the precepts of human capitalism -- invest in your own skills and those of your children, and the market will reward you. These precepts now seem shakier than they have in the past. No wonder middle-class spirits, as well as incomes, are sagging.

David Foster Wallace:

Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.

Sarah Silverman:

You're very free if you don't love money.