Quotes

A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms which became my collection of quotes.

True bravery

Published March 18, 2023 · All posts on Mar 18

The bravery founded on hope of recompense, fear of punishment, experience of success, on rage, or on ignorance of danger, is but common bravery, and does not deserve the name. True bravery proposes a just end; measures the dangers, and meets the result with calmness and unyielding decision.

~ Francois de la Noue

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Go forward

Published March 16, 2023 · All posts on Mar 16

I’m not trying to sound like Mr. Smiley Positive Guy. That guy ignores the hard truth. That guy thinks a positive attitude will solve problems. It won’t. But neither will dwelling on the problem. No. Accept reality, but focus on the solution. Take that issue, take that setback, take that problem, and turn it into something good. Go forward. And, if you’re part of a team, that attitude will spread throughout.

~ Jocko Willink

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Failure

Published March 14, 2023 · All posts on Mar 14

Failure is not necessarily durable. Remember that the things that they fire you for when you are young are the same things that they give lifetime achievement awards for when you’re old.

~ Francis Ford Coppola

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Love

Published March 11, 2023 · All posts on Mar 11

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

~ Lao Tzu

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Options

Published March 4, 2023 · All posts on Mar 4

In any situation in life, you only have three options. You always have three options. You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. What is not a good option is to sit around wishing you would change it but not changing it, wishing you would leave it but not leaving it, and not accepting it. It’s that struggle, that aversion, that is responsible for most of our misery.

~ Naval Ravikant

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Greatness

Published February 28, 2023 · All posts on Feb 28

My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: That one wants nothing to be other than it is, not in the future, not in the past, not in all eternity. Not merely to endure that which happens of necessity… but to love it.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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Heart work

Published February 25, 2023 · All posts on Feb 25

So much of the job is more emotion and ‘heart work’ than it is ‘head work.’ The head comes in after, to look at what the heart has presented and to organize it. But the initial inspiration comes from a different place, and it’s not the head, and it’s not an intellectual activity.

~ Rick Rubin

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Mediocrity

Published February 23, 2023 · All posts on Feb 23

Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity. You’ll avoid the tough decisions, and you’ll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted.

~ Colin Powell

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Impossible, or possible?

Published February 18, 2023 · All posts on Feb 18

When you’re told that something is impossible, is that the end of the conversation, or does that start a second dialogue in your mind, how to get around whoever it is that’s just told you that you can’t do something? So, how am I going to get past this bouncer who told me that I can’t come into this night club? How am I going to start a business when my credit is terrible and I have no experience?

~ Eric Weinstein

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Four stories

Published February 16, 2023 · All posts on Feb 16

There are only four stories: A love story between two people, a love story between three people, the struggle for power, and the journey. Every single book that is in the bookstore deals with these four archetypes, these four themes.

~ Paulo Coelho

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Courage

Published February 14, 2023 · All posts on Feb 14

Physical courage which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way, and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another. The former would seem most necessary for the camp; the latter for the council. But to constitute a great man both are necessary.

~ Charles Caleb Colton

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Balance

Published February 11, 2023 · All posts on Feb 11

The world is this continually unfolding set of possibilities and opportunities, and the tricky thing about life is, on the one hand having the courage to enter into things that are unfamiliar, but also having the wisdom to stop exploring when you’ve found something worth sticking around for. That is true of a place, of a person, of a vocation. Balancing those two things—the courage of exploration and the commitment to staying—and getting the ratio right is very hard.

~ Sebastian Junger

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Audience

Published February 9, 2023 · All posts on Feb 9

I think people want things that are really passionate, and often, the best version they could be is not for everybody… The best art divides the audience. If you put out a record, and half the people who hear it absolutely love it, and half the people who hear it absolutely hate it, you’ve done well, because it’s pushing that boundary.

~ Rick Rubin

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Illusions

Published February 7, 2023 · All posts on Feb 7

Let the impermanence of all life-forms sink in. The stability and solidity of the things we see are mere illusions. We must not be afraid of the pangs of sadness that ensue from this perception. The tightness of our emotions, usually so wound up around our own needs and concerns, is now opening up to the world and to the piognancy of life itself, and we should welcome this.

~ Robert Greene

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Reproach

Published February 4, 2023 · All posts on Feb 4

When you call someone “untrustworthy” or “ungrateful”, turn the reproach on yourself. It was you who did wrong by assuming that someone with those traits deserved your trust. Or by doing them a favor and expecting something in return, instead of looking to the action itself for your reward. What else did you expect from helping someone out? Isn’t it enough that you’ve done what your nature demands? You want a salary for it too?

~ Marcus Aurelius, 9.42

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