Ezra Klein Quotes

You're all right, as long as you don't believe your own hype.

When you start believing you're something special, then you're not going to be striving to move forward.

You can never say you're big - I don't think you can ever take anything like that for granted.

To me, my biggest fear is getting a big head, and that is when I get the hammer. Because it's very easy in this game to believe you're something special.

Our intent will not be to create gridlock. Oh, except maybe from time to time.

I'm going to introduce you to a revolutionary thought - you can go slower and get there quicker. And that's to do with flow. As soon as you made it two lanes and brought in the 70 (mph) and 50 (mph), you got there quicker. It meant the flow of the traffic was better, there were less accidents, less deaths, I think that's an important factor.

Always first draw fresh breath after outbursts of vanity and complacency.

If I was sharp in every area, I might be too big-headed or something.

In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success.

Success turns a lot of people off. I have a pretty solid sense of joy and respect that irritates people, and can irritate me, too.

Even though I've had the body of work I've had, and the success I've had, I do not rest on my laurels whatsoever.

The fellow who thinks he knows it all is especially annoying to those of us who do.

The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.

A little gridlock might be pretty good from time to time.

You have to take account of traffic, but you should not pander to traffic.

A couple of people I knew went to university apart from me, but all the way through I was the smartest kid in the school. That's luck, but I was proud of it. And I was also proud of doing well without trying. As you get older, and it took me a long time to realise it, that's a disgusting attitude, revolting.

The biggest obstacle that stalls leaders' growth is the human ego. When leaders start to think they know it all, they stop growing.

People should just get over themselves.

And there has to be a level of gratitude and a little bit of pride. But I want that pride to be quick so that I don't soak in it too much. Because I've met a lot of jerks in this business. And I don't want to be one.

There are a lot of people very sure of themselves that need to be brought back down to Earth. As good as they think they are, they're really not.

I never want to get caught up in praises. Never want to get caught up in people telling me how good I am.

When as smart as you think you are is as wrong as you turn out to be, your life can fall out from under you.

Global traffic has become very networked, very connected.

I need to crack the Mumbai traffic code - if I leave early, under the assumption that there will be traffic, I get completely clear roads and reach an hour before my meeting, and then because I can't find parking I end up having to walk anyway.

You can sometimes get the big head and overlook things.