The fact of being an underdog changes people in ways that we often fail to appreciate. It opens doors and creates opportunities and enlightens and permits things that might otherwise have seemed unthinkable.

Outlier are those who have been given opportunities-- -and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.

People who are busy doing things - as opposed to people who are busy sitting around, like me, reading and having coffee in coffee shops -don't have opportunities to kind of collect and organize their experiences and make sense of them.

Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.

The successful are those who have been given opportunities,

To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages today that determine success--the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history--with a society that provides opportunities for all.

It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.

The sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents. It comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our place in history presents us with.