An Ode to Naval Ravikant’s Quotable Quotes

It is only recently that I came to know about Naval Ravikant.

A popular Indian YouTuber was raving about him in a recent video of his. It led me to this highly popular twitter thread titled “How To Get Rich Without Getting Lucky” and the thought-provoking Joe Rogan episode. I was hooked.

Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur and angel investor. He had invested in a number of popular startups in Silicon Valley early-on like Twitter and Uber. What makes him different from other businessmen is his thirst for knowledge beyond investing. He is a deep thinker who is intrigued about human psychology and can passionately discuss topics such as meditation, emotional health, happiness and peace. For him, it is not all about money, but he does not dismiss wealth. He believes in a good mix of both, which is refreshing, because we usually see influencers either scorning wealth or being too into it.

Naval Ravikant does not want to monetize his knowledge, because a) he’s already rich b) he says it defeats his purpose of altruism. This makes you want to trust him.

After going through many tweets of his (he is quite popular on Twitter), and the Joe Rogan video, I ended up downloading the free book called “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” which is a compilation of his best advice and anecdotes.

Here are a few Naval Ravikant quotes that left a mark on me from the book:

Making money is not a thing you do – it’s a skill you learn.

Specific knowledge is found much more by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity, and your passion. It is not by going to school for whatever is the hottest job; it is not by going into whatever field investors say is the hottest.

The internet enables any niche interest, as long as you’re the best person at it to scale out. And the great news is because every human is different, everyone is the best at something – being themselves.

Escape people through authenticity. Basically, when you are competing with people, it is because you’re copying them. It is because you are trying to do the same thing. But every human being is different. Don’t copy.

The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn.

Compound interest also happens in your reputation. If you have a sterling reputation and you keep building it for decades upon decades, people will notice. Your reputation will literally end up being thousands or tens of thousands of times more valuable than somebody else who was very talented but is not keeping the compound interest in reputation going.

Knowledge only you know or only a small set of people knows is going to come out of your passions and your hobbies, oddly enough. If you have hobbies around your intellectual curiosity, you’re more likely to develop these passions.

We waste our time with short-term thinking and busywork. Warren Buffett spends a year deciding and a day acting. That act lasts decades.

Value your time at an hourly rate, and ruthlessly spend to save time at that rate. You will never be worth more than you think you’re worth.

Literally, being anti-wealth will prevent you from becoming wealthy, because you will not have the right mindset for it, you won’t have the right spirit, and you won’t be dealing with people on the right level.

The problem is, to win at a status game, you have to put somebody else down. That’s why you should avoid status games in your life—they make you into an angry, combative person. You’re always fighting to put other people down, to put yourself and the people you like up.

Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow. When today is complete, in and of itself, you’re retired.

Money is not the root of all evil; there’s nothing evil about it. But the lust for money is bad. The lust for money is not bad in a social sense. It’s not bad in the sense of “you’re a bad person for lusting for money.” It’s bad for you. Lusting for money is bad for us because it is a bottomless pit. It will always occupy your mind. If you love money, and you make it, there’s never enough.

To the extent money buys freedom, it’s great. But to the extent it makes me less free, which it definitely does at some level as well, I don’t like it.

The most common bad advice I hear is: “You’re too young.” Most of history was built by young people. They just got credit when they were older. The only way to truly learn something is by doing it. Yes, listen to guidance. But don’t wait.

Let’s get you rich first. I’m very practical about it because, you know, Buddha was a prince. He started off really rich, then he got to go off in the woods.

It’s only after you’re bored you have the great ideas. It’s never going to be when you’re stressed, or busy, running around or rushed. Make the time.

The smaller the company, the more everyone feels like a principal. The less you feel like an agent, the better the job you’re going to do. The more closely you can tie someone’s compensation to the exact value they’re creating, the more you turn them into a principal, and the less you turn them into an agent.