Walter Isaacson

“of months, he began encouraging people to talk to me, even foes and former girlfriends. Nor did he try to put anything…

— Walter Isaacson

“The good painter has to paint two principal things, man and the intention of his mind,” he wrote. “The first is easy…

— Walter Isaacson

“Even when he was barely conscious, his strong personality came through. At one point the pulmonologist tried to put a mask over…

— Walter Isaacson

Leonardo da Vinci did not take received wisdom - whether from ancient classical thinkers or medieval scholars or from the Bible -…

— Walter Isaacson

“But he also threatened that if Google continued to develop Android and used any iPhone features, such as multi-touch, he would sue.…

— Walter Isaacson

“Lasseter and his Pixar team had the first half of the movie ready to screen by November 1993, so they brought it…

— Walter Isaacson

“We thus arrive at the important result: Events that are simultaneous with reference to the embankment are not simultaneous with respect to…

— Walter Isaacson

“Close to forty thousand Germans gathered in front of Berlin’s opera house on May 10, 1933, as a parade of swastika-wearing students…

— Walter Isaacson

“In a paper he wrote in the spring of 1907, he began by exuding a joyful self-assurance about having neither the library…

— Walter Isaacson

“This is largely because he felt it was futile to wrestle with theological questions about which he had no empirical evidence and…

— Walter Isaacson

“production.” They had created a device with a little circuit board that could control billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure. “You cannot…

— Walter Isaacson

“The idea that John Lasseter pitched was called “Toy Story.” It sprang from a belief, which he and Jobs shared, that products…

— Walter Isaacson

“As a bonus, Rand agreed to design a personal calling card for Jobs. He came up with a colorful type treatment, which…

— Walter Isaacson

“Look longer at the picture. It vibrates with Leonardo’s understanding that no moment is discrete, self-contained, frozen, delineated, just as no boundary…

— Walter Isaacson

“It's a complex song, and it's fascinating to watch the creative process as they went back and forth and finally created it…

— Walter Isaacson

“That Tuesday afternoon, he kept staring into his children’s eyes. At one point he looked at Patty and his children for a…

— Walter Isaacson

“A Family Home Powell shared her husband’s interest in natural foods. While at business school, she had worked part time at Odwalla,…

— Walter Isaacson

“One of his motivating passions was to build a lasting company. At age twelve, when he got a summer job at Hewlett-Packard,…

— Walter Isaacson

“Jobs's intensity was also evident in his ability to focus. He would set priorities, aim his laser attention on them, and filter…

— Walter Isaacson

“When he was turning thirty, Jobs had used a metaphor about record albums. He was musing about why folks over thirty develop…

— Walter Isaacson

“The reason Apple resonates with people is that there’s a deep current of humanity in our innovation. I think great artists and…

— Walter Isaacson

“On its first over was the famous picture of Earth taken from space; its subtitle was "Access to Tools." The underlying philosophy…

— Walter Isaacson

“Nevertheless, by dint of his personality and controlling instincts, Jobs was soon playing a stronger role. He spewed out a stream of…

— Walter Isaacson

“Instead, this time he made what he called a “slight modification” to his theory. To keep the matter in the universe from…

— Walter Isaacson

“Jobs’s obstinacy lasted for nine months after his October 2003 diagnosis. Part of it was the product of the dark side of…

— Walter Isaacson

“I never worried about money. I grew up in a middle-class family, so I never thought I would starve. And I learned…

— Walter Isaacson

“it is clear that Leonardo was charming and attractive and had many friends. “His disposition was so lovable that he commanded everyone’s…

— Walter Isaacson

Leonardo da Vinci was comfortable being illegitimate, gay, a misfit, a heretic. But he also respected other people. He didn't get into…

— Walter Isaacson

“Years later, on a Steve Jobs discussion board on the website Gawker, the following tale appeared from someone who had worked at…

— Walter Isaacson

“Apple’s graphical user interface. Just as Jobs was being eased out of Apple in 1985, John Sculley had struck a surrender deal:…

— Walter Isaacson

“Then he began writing the software that would get the microprocessor to display images on the screen. Because he could not afford…

— Walter Isaacson

I think Leonardo da Vinci teaches us the value of both being focused on things that fascinate us but also, at times,…

— Walter Isaacson

“Hubble then made an even more amazing discovery. By measuring the red shift of the stars’ spectra (which is the light wave…

— Walter Isaacson

“Another time, he was playing [chess] with his equal, the Duchess of Bourbon, who made a move that inadvertently exposed her king.…

— Walter Isaacson

I have my own theory about why decline happens at companies like IBM or Microsoft. The company does a great job, innovates…

— Walter Isaacson

Leonardo da Vinci had such a playful curiosity. If you read his notebooks, you'll see he's curious about what the tongue of…

— Walter Isaacson

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in…

— Walter Isaacson

“Steve's head dropped and stared at his feet. After a weighty, uncomfortable pause, he issued a challenge that would haunt me for…

— Walter Isaacson

“David Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,” Weekly Standard, Oct. 23, 2000, 31. The word “meritocracy” is an argument-starter, and I have employed it…

— Walter Isaacson

“Jobs and Clow agreed that Apple was one of the great brands of the world, probably in the top five based on…

— Walter Isaacson