--- schemaVersion: 1 scope: "public-indexable-html" renderScope: "server-rendered-main" canonical: "https://isafwan.com/en/quotes/" companion: "https://isafwan.com/agent/en/quotes/index.md" locale: "en" language: "en" direction: "ltr" title: "Quotations | Safwan AlModhayan" description: "Selected excerpts from published essays, each linked to its original text and context." --- ## Language versions - [ar-SA](https://isafwan.com/ar/quotes/) - [en](https://isafwan.com/en/quotes/) - [ru](https://isafwan.com/ru/quotes/) - [x-default](https://isafwan.com/ar/quotes/) - [zh-CN](https://isafwan.com/zh-CN/quotes/) [Safwan AlModhayan A living intellectual interface](https://isafwan.com/en/) # Quotations Short passages drawn directly from the essays, with a link back to their full context. [The Intelligent Investor](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/intelligent-investor/)[The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/innovators-dilemma/)[Creativity, Inc.](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/creativity-inc/) The Intelligent Investor ## Selected formulations These formulations interpret the supplied reading notes. They are not verbatim quotations from Benjamin Graham and are not financial advice. [Open the full reading note](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/intelligent-investor/) Selections found: 3 Chapter 20 Source item 191 > A margin of safety is not a trick for buying something cheap; it is a disciplined financial acknowledgment that judgment can be wrong. A discount is useful only when the estimate beneath it is credible and the asset can withstand errors in that estimate. From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Graham quotation [Margin of safety: room for being wrong](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-margin-of-safety) Chapter 8 Source item 71 > The market is a partner offering changing prices, not a superior entitled to issue commands. A quoted price can prompt fresh analysis without compelling an immediate change in belief or ownership. From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Graham quotation [Price and value are different arguments](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-price-and-value) Chapter 1 Source item 3 > A profit does not prove a decision was sound, just as a temporary loss does not prove it was flawed. Outcomes deserve scrutiny, but they cannot substitute for examining the evidence and risk understood when the decision was made. From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Graham quotation [Decision quality before the outcome](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-decision-under-uncertainty) [Explore all selections \(12\)](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/intelligent-investor/#reading-selections) The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail ## Selected formulations These formulations interpret the supplied reading notes. They are not verbatim quotations from Clayton Christensen, and the contemporary applications do not state Christensen’s views. [Open the full reading note](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/innovators-dilemma/) Selections found: 3 Source item 4 > Companies allocate resources according to the measures by which they have learned to judge success, not according to abstract future value. Targets, margins, and evaluation processes determine which future opportunities become credible enough to fund. From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Christensen quotation [Value networks: what an organization can recognize](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-innovators-dilemma-value-networks) Source item 6 > A lower-performing product can prevail once its performance is sufficient and its other advantages matter more to the customer. Cost, access, convenience, or fit can become decisive after a product crosses the threshold required for a particular use. From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Christensen quotation [Performance is meaningful only in use](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-innovators-dilemma-performance-and-use) Editorial inference from the review Source item 233 > A small budget does not by itself make an experiment rational; the experiment must be designed to acquire decisive knowledge. A later editorial inference from the supplied review: an early test matters when its result can change a material assumption or decision. Editorial inference from the review · From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Christensen quotation [Discovery before scale](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-innovators-dilemma-discovery-before-scale) [Explore all selections \(12\)](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/innovators-dilemma/#reading-selections-innovators-dilemma) Creativity, Inc. ## Selected formulations These formulations interpret the supplied reading notes. They are not verbatim quotations from Ed Catmull or Amy Wallace; expanded-edition material, later inference, and contemporary application are identified separately. [Open the full reading note](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/creativity-inc/) Selections found: 3 Chapter 5 Source item 74 > The strongest criticism is not ‘I don’t like this,’ but ‘I lost interest here because the character’s motive stopped making sense.’ The chapter-five synthesis favors criticism that locates a failure and its effect closely enough for the team to investigate it. From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Catmull or Wallace quotation [Candor without command](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-creativity-inc-candor-without-command) Chapter 7 Source item 102 > Protecting a weak early idea does not exempt it from development; it gives the idea a fair chance to show that it can develop. The chapter-seven synthesis makes protection answerable to revision, emerging quality, and evidence of movement. From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Catmull or Wallace quotation [Protect the unfinished, require the learning](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-creativity-inc-protect-the-unfinished) Editorial inference from the review Source item 235 > Information does not cost everyone the same: a junior employee may pay a much higher professional price for stating a truth that an executive can voice safely. A later editorial inference from the supplied review, not a Catmull or Wallace formulation, about power and the unequal cost of candor. Editorial inference from the review · From Safwan’s reading notes · paraphrase, not a Catmull or Wallace quotation [Design for what power and automation hide](https://isafwan.com/en/notebook/#reading-creativity-inc-design-for-the-hidden) [Explore all selections \(12\)](https://isafwan.com/en/personal/readings/creativity-inc/#reading-selections-creativity-inc) These excerpts are taken verbatim from newly written essays on this site; they are not records of earlier statements by Safwan. Check the publication status and source shown with each text before quoting or attributing it. Search excerptsAll topics > The first question is not what the system can do. It is what decision deserves assistance. _[Ask a Better Question Before You Adopt AI](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/better-questions-before-ai/)_ > Capacity belongs to the tool; responsibility remains with the institution. _[Ask a Better Question Before You Adopt AI](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/better-questions-before-ai/)_ > A useful pilot should clarify a decision before it accelerates a workflow. _[Ask a Better Question Before You Adopt AI](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/better-questions-before-ai/)_ > A dashboard can sharpen attention, but it cannot supply judgment. _[Data Frames the Decision; It Does Not Make It](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/data-does-not-decide/)_ > What is absent from the measure may still matter to the decision. _[Data Frames the Decision; It Does Not Make It](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/data-does-not-decide/)_ > Reversibility is not hesitation; it is a form of disciplined learning. _[Data Frames the Decision; It Does Not Make It](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/data-does-not-decide/)_ > Security is the shape of a decision, not a layer added after it. _[Security Is a Design Decision](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/security-is-a-design-decision/)_ > Friction should rise with the harm a mistake could cause. _[Security Is a Design Decision](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/security-is-a-design-decision/)_ > Trust grows when recovery and accountability are designed in advance. _[Security Is a Design Decision](https://isafwan.com/en/ideas/security-is-a-design-decision/)_