Quotes from Seth Godin

The problem with competition is that it takes away the requirement to set your own path, to invent your own method, to find a new way.

Today, not starting is far, far worse than being wrong. If you start, you've got a shot at evolving and adjusting to turn your wrong into a right. But if you don't start, you never get a chance.

The competitive advantages the marketplace demands is someone more human, connected, and mature. Someone with passion and energy, capable of seeing things as they are and negotiating multiple priorities as she makes useful decisions without angst. Flexible in the face of change, resilient in the face of confusion. All of these attributes are choices, not talents, and all of them are available to you.

As our society gets more complex and our people get more complacent, the role of the jester is more vital than ever before. Please stop sitting around. We need you to make a ruckus.

The challenge with being an initiator of projects is that you are never, ever done.

Leaders lead when they take positions, when they connect with their tribes, and when they help the tribe connect to itself.

If you're remarkable, it's likely that some people won't like you. That's part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praise–ever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out.

The Cul-de-Sac ( French for dead end ) ... is a situation where you work and work and work and nothing much changes

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt

Persistent people are able to visualize the idea of light at the end of the tunnel when others can't see it

The librarian isn't a clerk who happens to work in a library. A librarian is a data hound, a guide, a sherpa and a teacher. The librarian is the interface between reams of data and the untrained but motivated user.

Not only must you be an artist, must you be generous, and must you be able to see where you can help but you must also be aware. Aware of where your skills are welcomed.

An individual artist needs only a thousand true fans in her tribe. It's enough.

No one knows more about the way you think than you do.

If your organization requires success before commitment, it will never have either. Part of leadership (a big part of it, actually) is the ability to stick with the dream for a long time. Long enough that the critics realize that you're going to get there one way or another...so they follow.

I think art is the ability to change people with your work, to see things as they are and then create stories, images, and interactions that change the marketplace.

The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate.

the greatest shortage in our society is an instinct to produce. To create solutions and hustle them out the door. To touch the humanity inside and connect to the humans in the marketplace.

The secret of being wrong isn't to avoid being wrong! The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is realizing that wrong isn't fatal. The only thing that makes people and organizations great is their willingness to be not great along the way. The desire to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret of success.

The time to look for a new job is when you don't need one. The time to switch jobs is before it feels comfortable.

All great programmers learn the same way. They poke the box. They code something and see what the computer does. They change it and see what the computer does. They repeat the process again and again until they figure out how the box works.

The combination of passion and art is what makes someone a linchpin.

Art is never defect-free. Things that are remarkable never meet spec, because that would make them standardized, not worth talking about.

Strategic quitting is the secret of successful organizations