What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better.
~ Wendell Phillips
Elsewhere, this is 4a1534. — slipbox
Education →
Defiance and acceptance →
Defiance and acceptance come together well in the following principle: There is always a countermove, always an escape or a way through, so there is no reason to get worked up. No one said it would be easy and, of course, the stakes are high, but the path is there for those ready to take it. This is what we’ve got to do. And we know that it’s going to be tough, maybe even scary.
~ Ryan Holiday
Elsewhere, this is 4a1533. — slipbox
Theater →
The truth is the heroism of your childhood entertainments was not true valor. It was theater.
~ David Foster Wallace
Elsewhere, this is 4a1531. — slipbox
Manual labor of the mind →
Writing is essentially donkey work, manual labor of the mind. What makes it bearable are those moments (which sometimes can last for weeks, months) when the book takes over, takes on a life of its own, goes off in unexpected directions.
~ John Gregory Dunne
Elsewhere, this is 4a1530. — slipbox
New ideas →
A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.
~ Oliver Wendell Berry
Elsewhere, this is 4a1529. — slipbox
Be a reader →
I’m not saying that you have to be a reader to save your soul in the modern world. I’m saying it helps.
~ Walter Mosley
Elsewhere, this is 4a1528. — slipbox
The real fear →
These are serious fears. But they’re not the real fear. Not the Master Fear, the Mother of all Fears that’s so close to us that even when we verbalize it we don’t believe it. Fear That We Will Succeed. That we can access the powers we secretly know we possess. That we can become the person we sense in our hearts we truly are.
~ Steven Pressfield
Elsewhere, this is 4a1527. — slipbox
Premeditation →
The premeditation of death is the premeditation of liberty; He who has learnt to die has forgot to serve.
~ Michel de Montaigne
Elsewhere, this is 4a1526. — slipbox
Boring →
Somebody’s boring me—I think it’s me.
~ Dylan Thomas
Elsewhere, this is 4a1525. — slipbox
The creative mind →
The creative mind gets poisoned with the idea that your great work will be the result of getting serious. So many of my good ideas come from what looks like goofing off, wasting time. Art is play. There’s no way to tell what’s deep or shallow until you play with the idea.
~ Austin Kleon
Elsewhere, this is 4a1524. — slipbox