Chinese professional tennis player, 1999–2014
The task of finally making a decision to hang up my racquet felt a lot more difficult than winning seven matches in a row in the Australian heat.
Recorded · WTA (archived) · 2014
One question · 6 of 14 answers to it
What made you decide to stop something you were known for, and how did you know it was time?
Operatic soprano and recitalist
As a very young singer, I was invited to the opera house in Berlin by the then-director of the opera house, Egon Seefehlner, and I had one opera to my name that I knew.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)
Founder of CD Baby; author of Anything You Want
I read that at a key fork in the road moment for me where I just sold CD Baby and had a ton of money.
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2023
Jazz tenor saxophonist and composer
I realized I wasn’t sounding as good as my reputation was, so I wanted to kind of get to that point where I wouldn’t be ashamed to go on the bandstand, which happened to me one time on a…
Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)
Swiss professional tennis player, 1998–2022
As many of you know, the past three years have presented me with challenges in the form of injuries and surgeries. I've worked hard to return to full competitive form.
Recorded · Reuters · 2022
Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
I stopped being a teacher when the South African Government introduced a deliberately inferior education for blacks called Bantu education, and I felt I wasn’t ready to collaborate with…
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2004
Answers marked Recorded were said elsewhere and are quoted with the publication and date they came from. Those people have not joined — nobody here answers on anyone else's behalf.
What is the part of your job that people would be surprised is most of your job?
Chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, 1970–2025
The extraordinary delegation of authority now existing at Berkshire is the ideal antidote to bureaucracy.
Recorded · Berkshire Hathaway Inc. · 2015
Film director and screenwriter
I’m a rather slow writer and I have to go to a coffee shop.
Recorded · The Hollywood Reporter · 2019
Atmospheric chemist; Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1995
Although my years at Irvine were very productive, I missed not doing experiments myself because of the many responsibilities associated with a faculty position: teaching courses,…
Recorded · Nobel Prize Outreach · 2007
Which book changed the way you think, and what did it change?
Neurologist and writer
The first biography I read — I think the first scientific biography — was Madame Curie . And my mother, who was a surgeon, worked at the Marie Curie Hospital.
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2000
Rock climber; first person to free solo El Capitan
some of the most noteworthy books I’ve read I guess, like A People’s History of the US, the Howard Zinn book totally changed the way I look at politics.
Recorded · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2018
Neurosurgeon; chair of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
I remember reading The Making of a Surgeon when I was in probably about the sixth or seventh grade. And that was a book that kind of got me focused, I think, on the career path.
Recorded · American Academy of Achievement · 2001
What is the thing you are best at that nobody watching can see?
British wheelchair racer, 1988–2007; member of the House of Lords
I love training. It's not just about the competing.
Recorded · People's Collection Wales · 2015
Chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase from 2005
Curiosity is a form of humility — acknowledging that you don't know everything. Responding to curiosity allows other people to speak freely.
Recorded · JPMorgan Chase & Co. · 2024
Conductor; Music and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
I will say it’s very in a way looks very physical. You know, it’s like a dance.
Recorded · Academy of Achievement (achievement.org)
People, by what they do
- Science and medicine 104
- Arts and letters 1205
- Politics and public life 131
- Business and finance 70
- Technology 45
- Sport 108
Recorded for public figures, from the source their answers were taken from. Browse by era too.
Questions, by subject
- Identity & self 14
- Values & belief 13
- Change of mind 1
- Failure & regret 9
- Craft & work 36
- Money & investment 4
- Taste & recommendation 6
- Relationships 5
- Time & hindsight 8
- Death & what remains 13
- Daily life 9
- Attention & the world 8
Every question the bank can deal, in the order it was written. See all 126.
Some of the people here · A–Z
Find someone →Adam Zagajewski, Adeel Akhtar, Andy Murray, Arianna Huffington, Beth Breeze, Black Francis, Bonnie Raitt, Brendan Rodgers, Bruno Tonioli, Carlos Acosta, Carol Burnett, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Christoph Niemann, Circuit des Yeux, Colson Whitehead, David Hyde Pierce, Erin O'Connor, Greg Mendez, Hiroshi Mikitani, Isabel Allende, Jason Sudeikis, Lemn Sissay, Marc Horowitz, Mo Farah, Morgan Parker, Mr Scruff, Nicholas Hoult, Nile Rodgers, Richard Hawley, Robin Gibb, Roddy Doyle, Rosie Stockton, Sadie Frost, Serge Pizzorno, Steph McGovern, Tim O'Reilly, Tim Peake, Werner Herzog, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Yvon Chouinard
Answers that stay at one address
You are dealt a few questions at a time and answer the ones you want to. What you write gets a permanent address and keeps it. Rewrite it whenever you like and say why — the new version goes up beside the old one rather than over it, so changing your mind reads as thinking rather than as a reversal.
You write before you read. Other members' answers to a question stay shut until you have answered it or passed on it, because reading first changes what you would have said. Passing is free and it is permanent.
- People
- 1,669
- Answers
- 7,143
- Questions
- 126
- First said
- 1910–2026
Most of what is here so far was said somewhere else and recorded with its source — a named person, a publication and a date, on every line. Nothing has been deleted.