A collection of quotes for entrepreneurs curated in July 2025 around a theme of reflection and retrospection.
Quotes For Entrepreneurs Curated in July 2025
I curate these quotes for entrepreneurs from a variety of sources and tweet them on @skmurphy about once a day where you can get them hot off the mojo wire. At the end of each month I curate them in a blog post that adds commentary and may contain a longer passage from the same source for context. Please enter your E-mail address if you would like to have new blog posts sent to you.
My theme for this month’s “Quotes for Entrepreneurs” is reflection and retrospection.
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“Riding the storm out
Waiting for the thaw out
On a full moon night in the Rocky Mountain winterWell, the wind outside is frightening
But it’s kinder than the lightning life in the city
It’s a hard life to live, but it gives back what you give”REO Speedwagon in “Riding the Storm Out”
I blogged about “Entering 2025 as a Stranger in a Strange Land.” Midway into the year I think my sense that 2025 was going to be an inflection point is bearing out.
“Much of what I knew about the world and the models I had relied on were out of date. I am not at the ‘everything you know is wrong stage’ but it feels like were are in the midst of inflections in several trends in technology, media, and governance models.”
Sean Murphy in “Entering 2025 as a Stranger in a Strange Land.“
I think this song captures the sense of a storm sweeping over and transforming the landscape, at least for a time. I have a sense that many new equilibrium points in current systems are shifting to locations that are “over the horizon.” Sometimes in a good way, sometimes in ways I think we will look back longingly at what we have lost. The horizon is just the limit of our current vision. We can travel beyond it, and as we get closer, we can often see beyond it. I see many improvements coming, some of which will be breakthroughs, but few without risk and some level of loss.
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‘”Reflection turns experience into insight” John C. Maxwell
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“We keep passing unseen through little moments of other people’s lives.”
Robert M. Pirsig in “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“
It’s easier to see your shortcomings and mistakes in others, if you pay attention. This is the inverse of sonder, curated below.
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“On the surface, this is another love story with a deeply flawed protagonist forced by circumstance into a journey of self-improvement.”
Christopher Bingham (@chriscoolblog) in his review of “The Incredible Shrinking Weekend“
True for many startup stories as well. Somehow the phrasing “deeply flawed protagonist” reminded me of Kant’s “crooked timber of humanity.” We improve by reflecting on past actions, comparing our actions with the actual results and developing better models of our capabilities and how the world works. At minimum if you’ve tried something three times in similar situations reflection encourages us to make new mistakes.
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“God give me the wisdom to see the truth however contrary to my established beliefs.”
Robert Quillen
Beliefs can include an elevated self-image, personal infallibility, and a default assumption of good intent when personal selfishness is unfortunately too common. Clarity on my own needs encourages me to prioritize them over others’ somewhat murky situations and possibly dubious motivations.
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Four Reflection Points for Procrastination
- How would someone successful complete the goal?
- How would you feel if you don’t do the required task?
- What is the next immediate step you need to do?
- If you could do one thing to achieve the goal on time, what would it be?
Jason Wessel quoted in “Four Keys That Can Unlock Procrastination“
h/t Brad Pierce
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“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another, unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made of layers, cells, constellations.”
Anais Nin
Reflection allows you to discern your strengths and weaknesses. Build on your strengths.Address a weakness only when it blocks the progress you need. I found the following quote apropos identifying and leveraging strengths.
“A primary source of opportunity will lie in spotting AI strengths, and ways of applying those strengths to important problems.”
Steve Newman in “The Uneven Impact of AI”
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131. “None are more prone to error than those who act only on reflection.”
Vauvenargues in Maxims
You have to anticipate what opportunity looks like and seize it once you recognize it: see “Early Markets Offer Fluid Opportunities” and “Harbinger or Outlier, Vision or Mirage.” The same is true for threats, whether from established competitors, new entrants, or changes in the environment.
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“To estimate a man’s condition in regard to happiness, it is necessary to ask, not what things please him, but what things trouble him; and the more trivial these things are in themselves, the happier the man will be. To be irritated by trifles, a man must be well off; for in misfortunes trifles are unfelt.”
Arthur Schopenhauer in “Maxims“
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[The] Gryphon added, “Come, let’s hear some of your adventures.”
“I could tell you my adventures—beginning from this morning,” said Alice a little timidly: “but it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Lewis Carroll in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland“
related observation:
“Know what’s weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything’s different. You just go about your business and one day you realize you’re not the same person you used to be. People change whether they decide to or not.”
Bill Watterson in Calvin and Hobbes (A brief soliloquy by Calvin to Hobbes).
I blogged about Bill Watterson’s commencement speech at Kenyon College in “Bill Watterson on the Real World.”
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“Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.
Christopher Morley in “Inward Ho!“(1923)
This reminds me of a quote by James Thurber, “Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.” A quote I have used in “Bouncing Back, Getting Unstuck Revisited, and Quotes for Entrepreneurs Curated in November 2020. More context Christopher Morley quote:
“Poetry,” said Shelley, “lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.” This, if you substitute ‘absurdity’ for ‘beauty,’ is also a good definition of humor. Mr. Chaplin has made the most familiar objects in the world—elderly shoes and trousers—something exceedingly rich and strange. Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in every-day affairs.”
Christopher Morley in “Inward Ho!“(1923)
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“The mason employed on the building of a house may be quite ignorant of its general design; or at any rate, he may not keep it constantly in mind. So it is with man: in working through the days and hours of his life, he takes little thought of its character as a whole.”
Arthur Schopenhauer in “Maxims“
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“We inevitably upset ourselves if we focus only on what we’ve lost. But if we reflect on how little we deserve of what remains, our anger will subside, and our complaints will turn into gratitude.”
William Penn (1644-1718) in “Some Fruits of Solitude” (1682)+ + +
“Every human spirit is condemned, a great part of the time, to solitary confinement; but it is confined in a kind of telephone cell where communication is possible with others far away, in time or space. And in this imprisonment and stress, the spirit of protesting laughter rises as naturally as the steam that gathers on the window of a telephone booth where a warmblooded creature is struggling to get a long-distance connection.”
Christopher Morley in “Inward Ho!“(1923)
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“Writing scientific articles is an integral part of the scientific method and common practice to communicate research findings. However, writing is not only about reporting results; it also provides a tool to uncover new thoughts and ideas. Writing compels us to think — not in the chaotic, non-linear way our minds typically wander, but in a structured, intentional manner. By writing it down, we can sort years of research, data and analysis into an actual story, thereby identifying our main message and the influence of our work.”
16-June-2025 Editorial “Writing is Thinking” in Nature Reviews Bioengineering
h/t Derek Thompson; This reminded me of a quote I curated in December 2021
“If you aren’t writing anything down, or inputting into a digital device, it’s extremely difficult to stay focused on anything for more than a few minutes, especially if you’re by yourself. But when you utilize physical tools to keep your thinking anchored and saved, you can stay engaged constructively for hours. […] Give yourself a context for capturing thoughts, and thoughts will occur that you don’t yet know you have.”
David Allen in “Getting Things Done“
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“An MVP is the smallest version of a product needed to prove that you’ve solved your target customer’s problem.”
Ben Yoskovitz in How To Avoid the 5 biggest MVP Mistakes
I really like this definition. It defines an MVP as a product not a test, which means the customer has to be willing to pay for it.
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“The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.”
Marc Weiser “The Computer for the 21st Century” (Originally published Sep-1991 in Scientific American.)
h/t Sophie Bakalar (@SophieBakalar) in “A Screenless Future.” This reminds me of a quote by Brian Arthur:
“Business processes that once took place among human beings are now executed electronically. They are taking place in an unseen domain that is strictly digital. This shift is quietly creating a second economy, a digital one.”
Brian Arthur in “The Second Economy“
I first curated this in Anne Rozinat of Fluxicon Joins Business Book Panel for “Second Economy.”
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“Good luck” is like 60% a matter of whether you aggressively pursue mysterious early-stage opportunities which you don’t really understand and usually won’t pay off.
Ben Landau Taylor (@BenLandauTaylor)
My list
- Smile first.
- Share your projects and needs.
- Ask others about their projects and needs.
- Share relevant information, do favors.
- Embrace surprise, see who can benefit.
- Leverage expertise to anticipate shape of opportunities.
- Embrace your unique interests, stir into your projects.
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“But Truth is always twins; for every truth is accompanied by its facsimile error—which is the application of that truth by literal-minded people.
Generally speaking, I am not at home to Truth during office hours; late at night, after three cups of coffee, I hear her tap, and sometimes admit her. ‘Truth lies at the bottom of a thermos bottle.
But even Abraham Lincoln returned from Gettysburg murmuring that he had forgotten the things he Really Wanted to Say.”
Christopher Morley in Inward Ho! (1923) chapter: Not to Become a Slave
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“Some evenings, after days when the world feels
like it has poured out all its despair onto me,
when I am awash with burdens that rests atop
my body like a burlap of jostling shadows,
I find a place to watch the sun set. […]
It is hard to describe the comfort one feels
in sittings with something you trust will always be
there, something you can count on to remain
familiar when all else seems awry. How remarkable
it is to know that so many have watched the same
sun set before you.”Clint Smith “For the Hardest Days”
h/t Laura Davis; I experience this differently. I wake up in the middle of the night and find myself reflecting, writing, worrying, or working until sunrise filters in through the windows. I realize it’s the start of a new day and a chance to begin again. Some Fridays I work late and then get up at the crack of Noon on Saturday. I’ve cut way back on my caffeine and no longer pull all-nighters.
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Self-Responsibility
I am responsible for
- my existence.
- the achievement of my desires.
- my choices and actions.
- the level of consciousness I bring to my work and my relationships.
- my behavior with other people–co-workers, associates, customers, spouse, children, and friends.
- how I prioritize my time.
- the quality of my communications.
- my personal happiness.
I accept that no one is coming to make my life right, or save me, or redeem my childhood, or rescue me from the consequences of my choices and actions. In specific issues, people may help me, but no one can take over primary responsibility for my existence. Just as no one else can breathe for me, no one else can take over any of my other basic life functions, such as earning the experience of self-efficacy and self-respect.
The need for self-responsibility is natural; I do not view it as a tragedy.
Nathaniel Branden “The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem” (1994) [Archive (PDF)]
I think entrepreneurs commit to self-efficacy. They help others and accept help from others, they commit to earning a living based on an exchange of value with others, but they reflect on outcomes–satisfactory and unsatisfactory, wins and losses, failures and successes–in order to learn from past mistakes to avoid them in future and to build on demonstrated strengths and capabilities. Branden defines the six pillars as:
- Living consciously
- Self-Acceptance
- Self-responsibility
- Self-assertiveness
- Living with a purpose
- Personal integrity
A grimmer version of this from the TV show “Person of Interest”
“In the end we are all alone, and no one is coming to save you.”
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu9qINRR23s
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“This systematic review and meta-analysis indicated that the mean number of discontinuation symptoms at week 1 after stopping antidepressants was below the threshold for clinically significant discontinuation syndrome. Mood worsening was not associated with discontinuation; therefore, later presentation of depression after discontinuation is indicative of depression relapse.”
“Incidence and Nature of Antidepressant Discontinuation Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” Michail Kalfas, MSc1; Dimosthenis Tsapekos, PhD1; Matthew Butler, PhD
I find it remarkable that something that induces huge amounts of worry (antidepressant withdrawal) was not borne out when studied systematically. This phenomenon of commonly-held beliefs that are not confirmed empirically is one of the driving forces of Sensible Medicine.This study-of-the-week supports the clear benefits of empirical study, especially of commonly-held beliefs.
John Mandrola in “Good News In Psychiatry“
Successful entrepreneurs frequently probe the limits of common wisdom, testing where it holds and where it discourages valuable exploration of new opportunities. Sometimes what “everyone knows” is true, sometimes not. My Uncle John used to say, “It’s generally accepted, so generally accepted it may not be true at all.”
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Sonder n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.
John Koenig in “The Online Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Sonder“
There is a related video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkoML0_FiV4 with a longer description and a print book. I found the book and the video mesmerizing. He is a very careful observer of people,situations, and his own interior landscape. Koenig’s neologisms were as thought provoking reading as Howard Rheingold’s collection of untranslatable words and concepts from other languages in “They Have a Word For It.” [Archive]
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“There was one of those big noises you sometimes hear at the front. I died then. I felt my soul or something coming right out of my body, like you’d pull a silk handkerchief out of a pocket by one corner. It flew around and then came back and went in again and I wasn’t dead anymore.”
Ernest Hemingway in a letter to Guy Hickok
Hemingway is describing an out-of-body or near-death experience triggered by the close explosion of a mortar shell that killed a soldier next to him. The letter to Hickok does not appear to be available online, here two sources I consulted
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“Your life up to this point has given you all the experience you need to be intelligent, but you have to think about those experiences. If you don’t think about them, you’ll be psychologically unwell. If you do think about them, you will become not merely educated but intelligent.”
The Diamond Age”
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“Just as the traveler, on reaching a height, gets a connected view over the road he has taken, with its many turns and windings; so it is only when we have completed a period in our life, or approach the end of it altogether, that we recognize the true connection between all our actions.”
Arnold Schopenhauer in Maxims
More context
Just as the traveler, on reaching a height, gets a connected view over the road he has taken, with its many turns and windings; so it is only when we have completed a period in our life, or approach the end of it altogether, that we recognize the true connection between all our actions,—what it is we have achieved, what work we have done. It is only then that we see the precise chain of cause and effect, and the exact value of all our efforts. For as long as we are actually engaged in the work of life, we always act in accordance with the nature of our character, under the influence of motive, and within the limits of our capacity,—in a word, from beginning to end, under a law of necessity; at every moment we do just what appears to us right and proper. It is only afterwards, when we come to look back at the whole course of our life and its general result, that we see the why and wherefore of it all.
When we are actually doing some great deed, or creating some immortal work, we are not conscious of it as such; we think only of satisfying present aims, of fulfilling the intentions we happen to have at the time, of doing the right thing at the moment. It is only when we come to view our life as a connected whole that our character and capacities show themselves in their true light; that we see how, in particular instances, some happy inspiration, as it were, led us to choose the only true path out of a thousand which might have brought us to ruin. It was our genius that guided us, a force felt in the affairs of the intellectual as in those of the world; and working by its defect just in the same way in regard to evil and disaster.
Arnold Schopenhauer in Maxims
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