korrents

Michael Lewis

@michael-lewis · 16 positions · 0 changes of mind

American author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and The Undoing Project, and host of the podcast Against the Rules.

Michael Lewis did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. Our reading

    The job of a writer is to get the reader into a state of mind where they will follow you anywhere, including into subjects they never knew they wanted.

    Their wordsyou grab the listener like I try to grab a reader and get them to the state of mind where they'll let you take them anywhere uh and teach them about stuff that they don't even know they want to learn about.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:07:26 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 1st of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our reading

    Starting from what worked rather than from what failed is a different starting point from almost all journalism, and a journalist who did it would be accused of hagiography.

    Their wordsIn fact, if most journalists started there, they'd be accused of heography
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:18:21 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 2nd of 16 in this recording

    journalism

    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    Hollywood will woo you with its enthusiasm and then take you down a rabbit hole where you spend years of your life and have nothing to show for it.

    Their wordsThat's a really intelligent way place to land because what they will do is woo you with their enthusiasm and then take you down a rabbit hole where you will spend years of your life and have nothing to show.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:24:35 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 3rd of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  7. Our reading

    A writer's audience does not carry from one book to the next: every book is another startup you have to make happen from scratch.

    Their wordsI see no evidence that I'm dragging people along with me. I feel like each each book feels like another startup and that I've got to go out and make it happen almost as if I've not written one.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:26:19 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 4th of 16 in this recording

    startups

    Interesting

  9. Our reading

    An audience is not buying the subject you cover; it is buying your interest in the subject.

    Their wordsThey learn to trust you that if you're interested, they'll be interested. That what in fact what they're buying into is not the subject, but your interest in the subject.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:27:39 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 5th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  11. Our reading

    The best sign that a subject is worth writing about is that you are interested in it and nobody else is.

    Their wordsAnd I've learned just to not even talk about it cuz it kills my interest to watch it kill their interest. But I know why I'm interested and why it's important and I'm not I'm not relying on the world telling me it's important.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:32:50 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 6th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  13. Our reading

    An audience disengages the moment it knows nothing can go wrong, which is why a speech read off the page is dead on arrival.

    Their wordsThe audience is waiting for you to get through this thing because they know nothing's going to happen. Like whatever's on that page, that's what's going to happen.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:40:30 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 7th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  15. Our reading

    You never call a source uninformed: you call knowing everything already known, and then ask for what has not been said.

    Their wordsYou don't call uninformed. You call knowing as much as there is to know and then you start picking the brains of people who might know more and have not said.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:49:55 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 8th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  17. Our reading

    The aim of a story is to be so complete that once it has been told there is nothing left to say.

    Their wordsI want to give something that's good and pure and true and is like is like the thing that will once it's said there's nothing else to say. It's like done.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:57:08 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 9th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  19. Our reading

    Taking notes by hand is a filter, and recording an interview removes the one filter that decides what is worth keeping.

    Their wordsSo this is a filter. Like if I'm talking to you, it takes effort to put it down on the page. I don't record anything that I've filtered it. It's interesting enough to me that it belongs on the page.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:02:20 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 10th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  21. Our reading

    Until you know how a story ends you cannot know how it begins, and that is why a book with material but no shape cannot be written.

    Their wordsI just don't know where this is going. I don't know what the end is. When I don't know what the end is, I don't know what the beginning is. And it's that simple.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:03:32 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 11th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  23. Our reading

    Good reporting is being the world's best student: gather everything before making judgments, and make people want to teach you.

    Their wordsYou are gathering before you make judgments. You're open to learning things. You're trying to be the world's best student. You want people to want to teach you.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:04:23 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 12th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  25. Our reading

    If you take a deadline deadly seriously and refuse ever to violate it, your mind simply finishes the work when it needs to be finished.

    Their wordssomehow if you take your deadlines seriously, that's the key. You take the deadlines deadly seriously and you just refuse to violate them. Um then you're serious when you establish them and you your mind just finishes when it needs to finish.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:16:22 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 13th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  27. Our reading

    In creative work there is a real benefit to not following the financial incentives, and to creating scarcity for the sake of quality rather than for its own sake.

    Their wordsWhen you're in any kind of creative thing, there is this benefit to not just following the financial incentives and and not trying to kind of like milk every last penny out of it. And to creating scarcity, not just for the sake of the scarcity, but for the sake of the quality.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:28:08 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 14th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  29. Our reading

    You should only start a book you believe is going to be great, whatever it turns out to be.

    Their wordsAnd only do it if it's great. If you only do it, it's it's a long-term strategy. I mean, it's not that I think all my books are great. I don't write them, though, unless I think they're going to be great.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:28:29 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 15th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting

  31. Our reading

    An athlete who moves his family across the country for a few million dollars more is trading a life that loves him for money that will not improve it.

    Their wordsthe average athlete who's taking a few million dollars more to move his wife and kids from one family, one city that they loves him and that he loves to some strange place where everybody's going to be unhappy.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:29:20 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)youtube.com 16th of 16 in this recording

    Interesting