Quotessence
Home / Authors / A. J. Jacobs
A. J. Jacobs

A. J. Jacobs Quotes

Journalist

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsFeelsLittlesShouldYearsNicePeopleThinkingWorldBookFirstsHelpingKnowsSaidSelfWayBelieveFeel BetterFourGuy

Famous A. J. Jacobs Quotes

“I got a sense of the amazingness of ordinary life, and I became aware of the marvel that we're around to begin with. I visited a lot of extreme communities, like the Amish, Hasidic Jews, and serpent-handlers. And I was proud, because I think I'm the first person to ever out-Bible-talk a Jehovah's Witness. After four hours, he said, "Okay, I have to go."”

ThinkingFirstsPersonsSaidCommunityHoursFourProudOrdinaryOkayJewExtremesWitnessFirst PersonOrdinary LifeSerpentJehovahAmish
Author:A. J. Jacobs
Create image

“Let me tell you, though: being the smartest boy in the world wasn’t easy. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want this. On the contrary, it was a huge burden. First, there was the task of keeping my brain perfectly protected. My cerebral cortex was a national treasure, a masterpiece of the Sistine Chapel of brains. This was not something that could be treated frivolously. If I could have locked it in a safe, I would have. Instead, I became obsessed with brain damage.”

IfsWorldWantFirstsAsksEasyBrainBoysHugeSafeTasksLet MeBurdenContraryTreasureTreatedObsessedDamageIf I CouldLockedProtectedMasterpieceCerebralChapelNational TreasureSistine Chapel
Book:The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
Create image

“Think of negative speech as verbal pollution. And that's what I've been doing: visualizing insults and gossip as a dark cloud, maybe one with some sulfur dioxide. Once you've belched it out, you can't take it back. As grandma said, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. The interesting this is, the less often I vocalize my negative thoughts, the fewer negative thoughts I cook up in the first place.”

IfsThinkingFirstsSaidDarkInterestingNiceSpeechNegativeCloudsCooksInsultGossipFewerPollutionSay AnythingGrandmaNegative ThoughtsVisualizingDark CloudsSulfur
Book:A.J. Jacobs Omnibus: The Know-It-All, The Year of Living Biblically, My Life as an Experiment
Create image