Do not be embarrassed by your mistakes. Nothing can teach us better than our understanding of them. This is one of the best ways of self-education.
~ Thomas Carlyle
Elsewhere, this is 4a1112. — slipbox
Mistakes →
In the bricks →
Self-reliant →
Being self-reliant is critical. To make yourself less dependent on others and so-called experts, you need to expand your repertoire of skills. And you need to feel more confident in your own judgement. Understand: We tend to overestimate other people’s abilities—after all, they’re trying hard to make it look as if they knew what they were doing—and we tend to underestimate our own. You must compensate for this by trusting yourself more and others less.
~ Robert Greene
Elsewhere, this is 4a1111. — slipbox
Clever →
If you want to be a clever person, you have to learn how to ask cleverly, how to listen attentively, how to respond quietly, and how to stop talking when there is nothing more to say.
~ Leo Tolstoy
Elsewhere, this is 4a1146. — slipbox
Foreign currency →
Advice is like being handed a large amount of foreign currency. What do you do with it?
~ Rhik Samadder
Elsewhere, this is 4a1145. — slipbox
Well-employed →
Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings blessed death.
~ Leonardo da Vinci
Elsewhere, this is 4a1110. — slipbox
Just ask →
If you’re a pole vaulter, you need a long runway to pick up the speed required to plant the pole and flip over the bar. Odds are you are not a pole vaulter. You don’t need a runway of context, justification, and general flim-flam to be curious. It’s not really about you. Save everyone the time, and just ask the question.
~ Michael Bungay Stanier
Elsewhere, this is 4a1144. — slipbox
Fleeing →
A coward flees backward, away from new things. A man of courage flees forward, in the midst of new things.
~ Jacques Maritain
Elsewhere, this is 4a1109. — slipbox
Shoes on your feet →
A degree on your wall means you’re educated as much as shoes on your feet mean you’re walking. It’s a start, but hardly sufficient. […] Just as you can walk plenty well without shoes, you don’t need to step into a classroom to understand the basic, fundamental reality of nature and of our proper role in it. Begin with awareness and reflection. Not just once, but every single second of every single day.
~ Ryan Holiday
Elsewhere, this is 4a1143. — slipbox
Thank you →
When someone reveals something that they’re struggling with, or something painful that happened to them, I often find myself saying, “I’m so sorry, thank you for sharing that with me.” Let’s acknowledge that you’ve just said something, that there’s nothing I can say that’s gonna lift that pain. By saying that, you’re focusing the conversation on what they’ve disclosed to you. You can also talk about how you’re talking about it. You can say, “I don’t know what to say right now. But I just want to tell you, I’m really sorry to know that.”
~ Anna Sale
Elsewhere, this is 4a1108. — slipbox