Education Quote by Øystein Stray Spetalen

It’s a deceptively gentle line from someone whose career is built on hard-edged bets. When Øystein Stray Spetalen - a businessman known for playing markets, deals, and timing - calls curiosity “one of the most important things in life,” he’s not offering a Hallmark mantra. He’s signaling a professional ethic: in capitalism’s version of natural selection, the incurious get priced out.

The phrasing matters. “I think” softens the claim, making it sound personal rather than prescriptive, but the next move is absolute: “most important.” That tension is classic elite advice: it presents a principle as humble reflection while smuggling in a standard for competence. “Curious” also functions as a socially acceptable stand-in for more ruthless traits - opportunism, vigilance, even paranoia about being left behind. Curiosity is the polished word you use when you mean, “Stay alert. Assume the world is changing without asking permission.”

“Always be learning” leans into the modern anxiety that expertise expires quickly. In business culture, learning isn’t purely intellectual; it’s adaptive. It means reading signals early, updating beliefs fast, and treating certainty as a liability. The subtext is a rebuke to complacency: if you’ve stopped learning, you’re not stable - you’re stale.

Contextually, this is the kind of line that travels well in interviews and keynote stages because it flatters listeners with agency. It suggests success isn’t locked behind pedigree or insider access, but behind a habit anyone can claim - even as the speaker’s own ecosystem is full of structural advantages. The quote works because it sells a demanding worldview in a friendly tone: the future belongs to the people who keep moving.