Social Capital Quotes

In life it wasn't what you know, but who you know. I had people who were trying to buy teams and had they bought the teams, I would have gotten to coach because they wanted me to coach. But the people who have the teams hire their friends.

An economic system can remain viable only so long as society has mechanisms to counter abuses of either state or market power and the erosion of the natural, social, and moral capital that such abuses commonly exacerbate.

The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.

The true value of networking doesn't come from how many people we can meet but rather how many people we can introduce to others.

Influence is like a savings account. The less you use it, the more you've got.

When I go to parties people recognize me and that's another contact, another tool in my bag of tricks. I don't even have a publicist. I work it.

Any image I have, it's just what I do, but it comes off as being very pretentious. When you're a bit in the public astigmatism, anything you do seems like you did it so somebody would see you do it, like showing up at the right parties.

Women are not just victims of oppression or vectors of change. They are the artisans of social capital, that lattice of values that is the glue that holds societies together. It is they who repair the torn social fabric of communities in the difficult post-conflict situations. They are the custodians of values, who nurture these values in the next generation.

I've gone from, you know, being too close to politicians, to being too close to entertainers, and people's father that I'm not.

There are few words in Russian for the Western concept of 'law,' but there are legions of words for connections, helping people from one's neck of the woods.

I couldn't be a conventional commercial actor without being a star-kid. That kind of a big film needs a certain mounting, a little paraphernalia around you. And nobody would give me that.

Friends and acquaintances are the surest passport to fortune.

We're in the business of influence. And if we're going to be in partnership with anybody, I want it to be with people who have amazing access and influence.

Government cannot substitute for a healthy private sector, and both need a strong civil society.

Once fraternities became tied to power and leadership, the powerful and would-be-leaders wanted to join.

The key thing for me has always been how we realize the mission - enabling every professional in the world to change their own economic curve by the strength of their alliances and connections with other people.

Just as any revolution eats its children, unchecked market fundamentalism can devour the social capital essential for the long-term dynamism of capitalism itself.

A society that relies on generalized reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful society, for the same reason that money is more efficient than barter. Trust lubricates social life. Networks of civic engagement also facilitate coordination and communication and amplify information about the trustworthiness of other individuals.

In the earlier years of my career, I made my own attempts to fit in and be accepted as one of the tribe of Sand Hill Road guys.

What I argued in 'The Great Divide' is that societies can't function without trust, both politically and economically.

Relationships are leverage. If you give value to someone else first, you have leverage.

I get messages from 21-year old white dudes who have just gotten out of an expensive college and say 'Hey can I pick your brain?' and I have nothing to say to them because A. They already have all the advantages and B. My advice would be the same as anyone else: Go do open mics.

Strong communities shape their own futures.

I know people voted for me only in my father's name.

In 'Palaces for the People,' Eric Klinenberg offers a new perspective on what people and places have to do with each other, by looking at the social side of our physical spaces.