How to Take Over the World

Key Takeaways 

• The Life of Isaac Newton: Forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone 
• Top Isaac Newton quotes from this episode: 
  • “Truth is the offspring of silence and meditation.”
  • “I keep the subject constantly before me, and wait until the first dawnings open slowly, little by little, into a full and clear light.” 
  • “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
• Brilliance without passion: Geniuses are not beasts of burden and cannot be chained to whatever problem is set before them; intelligence is only half the equation of genius – it is the excitement that generates most of the action 
• Learning as a form of obsession: Newton learned as a form of obsession, which is the vital ingredient for achieving greatness 
• Balancing Obsession and Moderation: Too much study and too much passion will lead to madness 
• Newton on imagination and fantasy: “Fantasy is helped by good air, fasting, and moderate wine. It is spoiled by drunkenness, gluttony, and too much study.” 
• Newton was driven to understand things from first principles; he obsessively tried to quantify everything  
• Newton made his crowning scientific achievement at the age of 44, publishing the Principia in 1687; this work laid the foundation for classical mechanics, introducing his laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation
• Newton’s child-like love for the world and his desire to understand the world around him led to his greatest breakthroughs 

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

Isaac Newton was one of the great geniuses in human history. He established the basic laws of physics, discovered the laws of gravity, invented calculus, and refined the scientific method. On this episode we take a look at how he was able to accomplish so much by analyzing his strategies, tactics, and work habits.

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Sources:

Isaac Newton by James Gleick

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Writing, research, and production by Ben Wilson.