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Who really said it

The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours

Attributed to Amos Tversky Psychologist
Attributed In copyright

The source trail is a later transcription reported by Wikiquote, not a directly inspected notebook.

Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Unconfirmed quote & credit

“The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours” — Amos Tversky

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Amos Tversky and/or the cited publisher; no permission is implied). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

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Provenance

What the source establishes

Documented trail
Michael Lewis, The Undoing Project (2016), reporting Tversky’s notes.
Evidence
Attribution and wording limits stated below

You waste years

A short excerpt from the cited source; it may differ from the popular wording above.

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How we verified this

  • Read the source ↗ — The source trail is a later transcription reported by Wikiquote, not a directly inspected notebook.
In copyright

The cited published account is modern copyrighted material.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

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Work Time

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Supporting sourceen.wikiquote.org

Documents the attribution, wording, or source limits described above.

The author

About Amos Tversky

Amos Tversky

Psychologist

Amos Tversky is identified in the cited material as the psychologist. This page distinguishes the documented source trail from a claim of verbatim personal testimony.

For writers & researchers

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The primary source (Chicago)

Michael Lewis, The Undoing Project (2016), reporting Tversky’s notes.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-secret-to-doing-good-research-is-always-to-be-a-little/

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