Cognition

Themistocles, however, formed yet higher designs with a view to naval supremacy. For, after the departure of Xerxes, when the Grecian fleet was…

The king heard him attentively, and, though he admired his temper and courage, gave him no answer at that time; but, when he was with his intimate…

And so we have thought fit to spend our time and pains in writing of the lives of famous persons; and have composed this tenth book upon that subject…

But he that saw most of Pericles, and furnished him most especially with a weight and grandeur of sense, superior to all arts of popularity, and in…

When the orators, who sided with Thucydides and his party, were at one time crying out, as their custom was, against Pericles, as one who…

All this, in truth, was very little in harmony with Anaxagoras's wisdom; if, indeed, it be true that he, by a kind of divine impulse and greatness of…

Entering also the Euxine Sea with a large and finely equipped fleet, he obtained for the Greek cities any new arrangements they wanted, and entered…

It looked strange, that a law, which had been carried so far against so many people, should be canceled again by the same man that made it; yet the…

Living in a great commonwealth, surrounded by many enemies, he saw the wisdom of inuring his body (nature's own weapon) to warlike exercises, and…

His very manner of speaking seemed to have such a kind of idea with it; for it was courteous, and yet forcible; pleasant, yet overwhelming; facetious…

Thus falling in upon the country destitute of defense, they wasted it on all sides. Marius was presently sent for to the city; where, when he arrived…

In actual service, Nicias did much that deserves high praise. He frequently defeated the enemy in battle, and was on the very point of capturing…

Another difference happened between him and Hephaestion concerning a gift, and a great deal of ill language passed between them, yet Eumenes still…

As to the manner of their deaths, it happened to one without the least thought or surmise of it; but to the other when he suspected it daily; which…

Thus was Pompey created and declared sole consul by Sulpicius, regent in this vacancy; upon which he made very cordial acknowledgments to Cato,…

But Alexander himself in his epistles mentions nothing unusual in this at all, but says he went from Phaselis, and passed through what they call…

There dwelt at that time in Pergamus, Athenodorus, surnamed Cordylio, a man of high repute for his knowledge of the stoic philosophy, who was now…

There were at that time a great many whom Sylla had made use of as his agents in the proscription, and to whom he had for their service in putting…

In less time than one would think his own family could have known this accident, all the three hundred were at the door. And a little after, the…

But when he came to himself, and had well considered the danger he was lately under, he could not forbear from shuddering at the wonderful ability…

But fearing Sylla, he traveled into Greece, and gave it out that he did so for the benefit of his health. And indeed he was lean and meager, and…

For this reason, the following book contains the lives of Demetrius Poliorcetes, and Antonius the Triumvir; two persons who have abundantly justified…

Philippides was a great favorite with king Lysimachus, from whom the Athenians received, for his sake, a variety of kindnesses. Lysimachus went so…

It is related that once, upon invitation, he went to pay a visit to Ptoeodorus the Megarian, a man, it would seem, of wealth and importance; and when…

Brutus had already reduced most of the places and people of these parts; but they now marched on as far as to the coast opposite Thasos, and, if…

In the actual conduct of war, Dion was a commander without fault, improving to the utmost those counsels which he himself gave, and, where others led…

Stan Lipsey became Publisher of the Buffalo News at midyear upon the retirement of Henry Urban. Henry never flinched during the dark days of…

At Berkshire, we have added what we thought were appropriate supplemental reserves but in recent years they have not been adequate. It is important…

The value of market esoterica to the consumer of investment advice is a different story. In my opinion, investment success will not be produced by…

We continue to concentrate our investments in a very few companies that we try to understand well. There are only a handful of businesses about which…

There's no reason to do handsprings over 1995's gains. This was a year in which any fool could make a bundle in the stock market. And we did. To…

Mistakes in assessing insurance risks can be huge and can take many years – even decades – to surface and ripen. (Think asbestos.) A major…

"Avoid affectation" is a useful rule so far as it goes, but how would you express this idea positively? How would you say what to be, instead of what…

One way to discover broken models is to be stricter than other people. Broken models of the world leave a trail of clues where they bash against…

This is particularly true for behavior. Some talented people are jerks, and this sometimes makes it seem to the inexperienced that being a jerk is…

If you wanted to get rich, how would you do it? I think your best bet would be to start or join a startup. That's been a reliable way to get rich for…

I think the solution is to assume that anything you've made is far short of what it could be. Force yourself, as a sort of intellectual exercise,…

It's why the best abstract painting still falls short of Leonardo, for example. And it applies to startups too. No idea for a product could ever be…

One reason programmers dislike meetings so much is that they're on a different type of schedule from other people. Meetings cost them more. There are…

But there's another way of using time that's common among people who make things, like programmers and writers. They generally prefer to use time…

For someone on the maker's schedule, having a meeting is like throwing an exception. It doesn't merely cause you to switch from one task to another;…

Business people in Silicon Valley (and the whole world, for that matter) have speculative meetings all the time. They're effectively free if you're…

And incidentally, when it does, you'll find that delighting customers scales better than you expected. Partly because you can usually find ways to…

And on a tuesday, of course, since they read somewhere that's the optimum day to launch something. It's easy to see how little launches matter. Think…

He wrote "If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than…

A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to…

It's not that you don't think about the future, just that you think about it no more than necessary. In theory this sort of hill-climbing could get a…

I realized recently that what one thinks about in the shower in the morning is more important than I'd thought. I knew it was a good time to have…

That becomes what you think about when you take a shower in the morning. And that means other questions aren't. I'd hated raising money when I was…

That has been the lesson for me: be careful what you let become critical to you. Try to get yourself into situations where the most urgent problems…

I'm more sympathetic to Newton. The problem was not the 14 pages, but the pain of having this stupid controversy constantly reintroduced as the top…

My wife thinks I'm more forgiving than she is, but my motives are purely selfish. I suspect a lot of people aren't sure what's the top idea in…

Moving large amounts of money around is never something people treat casually. The attention required increases with the amount—maybe not linearly,…

Politics, like religion, is a topic where there's no threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. All you need is strong convictions. Do…

I think what religion and politics have in common is that they become part of people's identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument…

If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as…

If you're naturally independent-minded, you're going to find it frustrating to be a middle manager. And if you're naturally conventional-minded, you'…

It will decrease the influence of your immediate peers if you have several other groups of peers. Plus if you're part of several different worlds,…

To go beyond this general advice, we need to look at the internal structure of independent-mindedness — at the individual muscles we need to exercise…

I don't think it's because novel ideas are funny per se, but because novelty and humor share a certain kind of surprisingness. But while not…