Strive for excellence in few things, rather than good performance in many.

If we did realize the difference between the vital few and the trivial many in all aspects of our lives, and if we did something about it, we could multiply anything that we valued.

80% of the results come from 20% of the causes. A few things are important; most are not.

The few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured, and multiplied.

Hard work leads to low returns. Insight and doing what we want lead to high returns.

To get useful new ideas, we must go beyond our immediate circle and make contact with distant parts of the social system.

The 80/20 principle - that 80 percent of result flow from just 20 per cent of the causes - is the one true principle of highly effective people.

What could you achieve that would make you proud, that no one else could do with the same ease?

It is not shortage of time that should worry us, but the tendency for the majority of time to be spent in low-quality ways.

Celebrate exceptional productivity, rather than raise average efforts.

The key is to work out the few things that are really important, and the few methods that will give us what we really want.

Look into your heart- and go after what you really want.

Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles.

Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.

I keep one simple rule that I only move in one direction - I write the book straight through from beginning to end. By following time's arrow I keep myself sane.

All my humor is based upon destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, I’d be standing on the breadline right in back of J. Edgar Hoover.

A man may take care of a furnace for twenty-five years and still forget to duck his head when he starts going down the cellar stairs.

...pain reaches a certain point and does not get worse but remains in all its intensity and you can survive it.

Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationships.

Even then, at nine years old, I wanted to live inside her body. I wanted to melt into her bones - THAT kind of love.

When you're onstage with Chris Rock, anything can happen. He is one of the greatest comic geniuses we've ever seen.