In everything the middle course is best: All things in excess bring trouble to men.
~ Plautus
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Quotes
A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms which became my collection of quotes.
Progressive development
Indeed, the grandest of all laws is the law of progressive development. Under it, in the wide sweep of things, men grow wiser as they grow older; Societies better.
~ Bovee
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Revelation
It is curious to note the old sea-margins of human thought. Each subsiding century reveals some new mystery; we build where monsters used to hide themselves.
~ Longfellow
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Discussion
He that is not open to conviction is not qualified for discussion.
~ Richard Whately
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Judgement
As climbers, we are inventors of our own goals, and must decide on our own how to achieve them. There is nobody else there. Nobody to control. We do extreme, dangerous things, and nobody else can say what is right or wrong. There is no moral loathing. We have only our instincts about human behavior, and in the end we are our own judges.
~ Reinhold Messner
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Slowly
To live long, it is necessary to live slowly.
~ Cicero
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Learning
I’ve always treated the world as my classroom, soaking up lessons and stories to fuel my path forward. I hope you do the same. The worst thing you can ever do is think that you know enough. Never stop learning. Ever.
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Understanding
I have found you an argument; But I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
~ Samuel Johnson
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Failures
Without failures I would not be here. I learned most of what I know today through them. Maybe it was my partner, or the equipment was not proper, or the training—especially the mental training, which is the most important thing—were not good enough. With success, you don’t always know why you succeed, but when you fail, it’s clear what you did wrong. Then you can make changes and learn.
~ Reinhold Messner
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Moderation
True happiness springs from moderation.
~ Goethe
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Just sitting there
Don’t expect anything to happen. Just wait. This waiting is a deep acceptance of the moment as such. Nietzsche called it amor fati — unquestioning love of whatever has fated you to be here. You reach a point where you’re just sitting there, asking, “What is this?” — but with no interest in an answer. The longing for an answer compromises the potency of the question. Can you be satisfied to rest in this puzzlement, this perplexity, in a deeply focused and embodied way? Just waiting without any expectations?
~ Stephen Batchelor
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Not self-made
[…] it is not true that I am self-made. Like everyone, to get to where I am, I stood on the shoulders of giants. My life was built on a foundation of parents, coaches, and teachers; of kind souls who lent couches or gym back rooms where I could sleep; of mentors who shared wisdom and advice; of idols who motivated me from the pages of magazines (and, as my life grew, from personal interaction).
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Weakness
Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause.
~ Victor Hugo
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Competition
I would like to remove all competitions in outdoor sports. The competition is not the important thing. The important thing is to learn to behave with wild nature.
~ Reinhold Messner
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Pleasure
Moderation is the pleasure of the wise.
~ Voltaire
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Riches and power
To have what we want is riches; But to be able to do without it is power.
~ George MacDonald
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Dreary and repellant
All violence, all that is dreary and repels, is not power, but the absence of power.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Self-delusion
Delude not yourself with the notion that you may be untrue and uncertain in trifles and in important things the contrary. Trifles make up existence, and give the observer the measure by which to try us; and the fearful power of habit, after a time suffers not the best will to ripen into action.
~ C. M. von Weber
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A sudden crash
All human things hang on a slender thread: The strongest fall with a sudden crash.
~ Ovid
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Small asks
The world expects that its requests will be accepted. That assignments, lunch dates, new projects, and even favors will get a yes. […] It’s just a small ask, the person thinks. Responding or reacting to incoming asks becomes the narration of your days, instead of the generous work of making your own contribution.
~ Seth Godin
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