japanese writer haruki murakami on kindness and disagreement: “always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. it is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.”
jeffrey d. sachs, an economist and author, on money, spending, and status: “living doesn’t cost much, but showing off does.”
xun zi, a chinese philosopher living around 312 bc, on the importance of focus: “the person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.”
james baldwin on the difficulty of change: “nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch.”
an indian proverb on kindness and mortality: “never postpone a good deed which you can do now, because death does not choose whether you have or haven’t done the things you should have done. death waits for nobody and nothing. it has neither enemies, nor friends.”
“you must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be .” — james stockdale
astronaut mae jemison on belonging: “once i got into space, i was feeling very comfortable in the universe. i felt like i had a right to be anywhere in this universe, that i belonged here as much as any speck of stardust, any comet, any planet.”
robert pirsig, an american philosopher and author: “the place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.”
mathematician and philosopher alfred north whitehead on progress: "civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them."
entrepreneur patrick collison on the value of reading: “you could try to pound your head against the wall and think of original ideas or you can cheat by reading them in books.”
writer audre lorde on facing our challenges: “sometimes we are blessed with being able to choose the time, and the arena, and the manner of our revolution, but more usually we must do battle where we are standing.”
italian billionaire brunello cucinelli “there are three things you cannot buy. fitness: you have to keep fit, whether you’re rich or not. diet: you cannot pay someone to be on a diet for you. … then, looking after your soul. no one can possibly treat your soul but you yourself.”
military strategist sun tzu on preparation: “the art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.”
advice columnist abigail van buren on character:
“the best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.”
fear and love
the art historian gustav friedrich waagen on how to teach so people learn: “first delight, then instruct.”
the painter, paula modersohn-becker, on making life a celebration: “i know that i shall not live very long. but i wonder, is that sad? is a celebration more beautiful because it lasts longer? and my life is a celebration, a short, intense celebration.”
“it is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” — marcus aurelius
poet lucille clifton on confidence: “what they call you is one thing. what you answer to is something else.”
"…identify the tasks or knowledge that are just out of your reach, strive to upgrade your performance, monitor your progress, and revise accordingly." -susan cain
richard feynman, on dealing with the expectations of others: “you have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. i have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. it's their mistake, not my failing.”
author and anthropologist carlos castaneda on mindset: “the trick is in what one emphasizes. we either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. the amount of work is the same.”
inventor and engineer alexander graham bell on focus: “concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. the sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
“the rich invest in time, the poor invest in money.” — warren buffett
aretha franklin, on seeing people as more than just their worst moment: “you cannot define a person on just one thing. you can’t just forget all these wonderful and good things that a person has done because one thing didn’t come off the way you thought it should come off.”
writer hugh walpole on being a generalist and a specialist: “the whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and a thousand other things well.”
the japanese writer haruki murakami on love: “if you remember me, then i don't care if everyone else forgets.”
roman emperor marcus aurelius on focusing on what you can control: “you have power over your mind — not outside events. realize this, and you will find strength.”
"as you start to walk on the way, the way appears." - rumi.
clarity doesn't come before action. it comes from action.
zora neale hurston on the lessons of life: “there are years that ask questions, and years that answer.”
