In the long run, people achieve only that which they have set as goals for themselves; Therefore, set the highest possible goals for yourself.
~ Leo Tolstoy
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Highest possible goals →
Self-respect →
To live without self-respect is to lie awake some night, beyond the reach of warm milk, phenobarbital, and the sleeping hand on the coverlet, counting up the sins of commission and omission, the trusts betrayed, the promises subtly broken, the gifts irrevocably wasted through sloth or cowardice or carelessness. However long we postpone it, we eventually lie down alone in that notoriously uncomfortable bed, the one we make ourselves. Whether or not we sleep in it depends, of course, on whether or not we respect ourselves.
~ Joan Didion
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Self-perfection →
Every man, from the king to the poorest pauper, should seek his own perfection, because only self-perfection improves mankind.
~ Confucius
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Speak more →
If you want to stop a person from action, ask him to speak more on the topic. The more people speak, the less desire they have to act.
~ Thomas Carlyle
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Unwholesome incarnations →
There is no man, however wise, who has not at some period of his youth said things, or even lived in a way which was so unpleasant to him in later life that he would gladly, if he could, expunge it from his memory. But he shouldn’t regret this entirely, because he cannot be certain that he has indeed become a wise man—so far as any of us can be wise—unless he has passed through all the fatuous or unwholesome incarnations by which that ultimate stage must be reached.
~ Marcel Proust
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Opportunities to lose focus →
The first element to consider when creating a more realistic “ideal day” is that unlike Franklin, we have many more places to be and many more opportunities to lose focus. We have to account for this, not fight against it.
~ Maneesh Sethi
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Character →
Character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life—is the source from which self-respect springs.
~ Joan Didion
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Wise consumption →
Wise consumption is much more complicated than wise production. What five people will produce, one person can very easily consume, and the question for each individual and for every nation is not how are we to produce, but how our products are to be consumed.
~ John Ruskin
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Goodness →
Pay bad people with your goodness; Fight their hatred with your kindness. Even if you do not achieve victory over other people, you will conquer yourself.
~ Henri Amiel
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Misfortunes →
If you fear woes and misfortunes, then you are already unhappy. Those who fear misfortunes usually deserve them.
~ Chinese proverb
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