ISTP

Miyamoto Musashi

Samurai and author of 'The Book of Five Rings'

Musashi: "If you make your opponent flinch, you have already won."

Musashi: "I dislike preconceived [thought]."

Musashi: "You win battles [by] using a timing which the enemy does not expect."

Musashi: "When you [know] the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally."

Musashi: "Really skillful people ... never appear busy."

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Erwin Rommel

World War II general

Rommel: "Strike at once. You cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles."

Rommel: "Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains save both."

Churchill: "[Rommel] was a splendid military gambler ... scornful of opposition ... and may I say, across the havoc of war, a great general."

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Donald Rumsfeld

U.S. Secretary of Defense (R)

Rumsfeld: "I don't do diplomacy."

Rumsfeld: "The information those in positions of responsibility in government, as well as in other human endeavors, have at their disposal is almost always incomplete."

Rumsfeld: "The best strategists [are] agile enough to adjust course if and when new and surprising information requires it."

Rumsfeld: "Certainty without power can be interesting, even amusing; certainty with power can be dangerous."

[On his secretary calling him a son of a bitch for not yet having called his wife 12 hours after a plane hit the Pentagon:]
Rumsfeld: "She had a point."

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Steve Jobs

Co-founder and CEO of Apple

Jobs: "I say when something sucks rather than sugarcoat it."

Jobs: "You can't connect the dots looking forward [so] you have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down."

Jobs: "[Miele] really thought the process through. They did such a great job designing [their] washers and dryers. I got more thrill out of them than I have out of any piece of high tech in years."

Jobs: "I wish [Bill Gates] the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid."

Larry Page: "He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it."

ISTP

Diogenes the Dog

Greek philosopher

Diogenes: "I saw a woman praying in front of an alter with her ass in the air and said to her: 'Look out; Zeus is behind you, too.'"

Diogenes: "Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends."

Alexander: "I am Alexander the King."
Diogenes: "I am Diogenes the Dog."
Alexander: "Ask me any boon you like."
Diogenes: "You are blocking my sunlight."

Alexander: "If I were not Alexander, the great king, I would be Diogenes."

Plato: "He is a Socrates gone mad."

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Dalai Lama XIV

Head of Tibetan Buddhism

Dalai Lama: "As a child I liked to disassemble things; radios, clocks, and the like. I took them apart to see how they worked."

Dalai Lama: "When you look for a teacher you should be very, very suspicious. ... You must test them."

Dalai Lama: "By learning from science ... I believe that Buddhism enriches its own worldview."

Desmond Tutu: "He has a childlike, boyish, impish mischievousness. And I have to try and make him behave properly, like a holy man!"

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James Murdoch

CEO of the Murdoch media empire, son of Rupert Murdoch

Murdoch: "What you don't want to do is ... blow [your resources] on something ... and then opportunities are going to come later that you never would have imagined were open to you."

[Interviewer: "So, James, tell me about karate."]
Murdoch: "It's a word."

Former colleague: "One of the things he likes about himself is the idea that he's a risk-taker."

Charles Dunstone: "James is very single-minded and a very clear thinker. He's very driven on detail: he'll be involved in all the numbers of the business."

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Kyudo Nakagawa

Zen master

Nakagawa: "You must take care of yourself! Buddha doesn't care. God doesn't care. Belief doesn't count, only action helps!"

[Asked what he thought about the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima:]
Nakagawa: "It was a big barbecue."

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Clint Eastwood

Filmmaker and actor

Eastwood: "I felt the less [my character] said, the stronger he became and the more he grew."

Eastwood: "I don't pretend to understand losers. When I read a script about a loser I think ... they seem to want it that way."

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Woody Allen

Filmmaker

Allen: "I don't socialize with [my actors] or spend a lot of time talking or lavishing them with hugs and insincere kisses."

Allen: "I'm not an intellectual ... and I'm not a good actor."

Allen: "I'm ... not someone who's ensconced in Kierkegaard or Spinoza, but my image is quite different because of what I play."

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Steven Wright

Stand-up comedian

Wright: "[My movie is about someone who] is obsessed with ... questions like 'why are we here?' and 'what is the meaning of life?' and then right before he [dies] he realizes that he wasted his time thinking about this."

Wright: "I love talking about technology. There's so much stuff about that in my show."

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Harrison Ford

Actor

Ford: "[I don't give] enough information so that [people] ... absolutely know who they're dealing with."

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Scarlett Johansson

Actress

Johansson: "I think my head's on pretty straight, and I'm pretty realistic about things."

Johansson: "I've never been the girl who thought of the big [wedding] dress, the big ceremony. I'm more low-key than that."

Woody Allen: "Scarlett is one of the few people who always tops me. Whenever I say something amusing, she always manages to say something quicker - and funnier than what I've said."

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Ellen Page

Actress

Page: "As a kid I didn't know who actors were except maybe Julia Roberts or the dinosaurs in 'Jurassic Park'. They were great!"

Page: "I don't dream about my wedding at night. I'm not one of those people."

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Jenna Jameson

Adult film actress

Jameson: "I am pretty hardcore - nothing scares me. I'm a guy's girl."

Jameson: "Relying on everybody else's judgment is what makes this society so sick."

Jameson: "Scarlett Johansson reminds me of myself when I was young."

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Julia Roberts

Actress

Roberts: "I'm too tall to be a girl, I never had enough dresses to be a lady, I wouldn't call myself a woman. I'd say I'm somewhere between a chick and a broad."

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Simon Cowell

Judge on American Idol

Cowell: "I can't bear political correctness. I absolutely loathe it."

Cowell: "I prefer to cut through the white lies and the bullshit."

Cowell: "I became 'the obnoxious one,' 'the opinionated one,' or 'the brutal one.' ... In my mind, I'm the honest one."

Cowell: "There's far too much decorum and protocol [in the world]. ... I can't see the point of that."

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Bruce Lee

Actor and martial artist

Lee: "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."

Lee: "A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. ... When there is an opportunity, 'I' do not hit, 'it' hits all by itself."

Lee: "There is no other help but self-help."

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Tom Cruise

Actor

Cruise: "Nothing ends nicely, that's why it ends. ... Talk is over-rated as a means of settling disputes."

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Christian Bale

Actor

Bale: "If everyone really knew what a jerk I am in real life, I wouldn't be so adored in the slightest."

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Snoop Dogg

Rapper

Snoop Dogg: "I'm not scared of reality [and in my music] I'm going to bring it to you."

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Phil Ivey

'The Tiger Woods of poker'

Ivey: "Anything anybody ever does to me at the poker table ... doesn't really bother me too much."

Ivey: "I'm cold-hearted at the poker table. ... If we're playing poker I'm trying to bust you. It's just that simple."

Ivey: "I have patience when I need to have patience ... [and] I'm able to adjust."

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Chesley Sullenberger

Pilot who landed a plane in the Hudson

Sullenberger: "I knew I had to solve this problem. I knew I had to find a way out of this box I found myself in."

Katie Couric: "You had to keep your cool..."
Sullenberger: "Right. The physiological reaction I had was strong, and I had to ... force calm on the situation."
Couric: "Was that a hard thing to do?"
Sullenberger: "No. It just took some concentration."

Sullenberger: "I was sure I could do it."