I took [Judith Wright’s] reply to mean that for certain kinds of knowledge you have to undertake a journey. It isn’t like pouring water into a bucket—a process by which neither water nor bucket is much changed—It seemed that if I took this journey I would be utterly changed. And before setting out, I couldn’t predict what that change would be.
~ John Tarrant, from Bring Me the Rhinoceros
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Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
~ John Anster
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Philosophy demands self-restraint, not self-abnegation—and even self-restraint can comb its hair. The limit I suggest is this: Our habits should mingle the ideal with the ordinary in due proportion, our way of life should be one that everyone can admire without finding it unrecognizable.
~ Seneca, Moral Letters, 5.5
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Clearheadedness and action are not always enough, in politics or in life. Some obstacles are beyond a snap of the fingers or novel solution. It is not alway possible for one person to rid the world of a great evil or stop a country bent toward conflict. Of course, we try—because it can happen. But we should be ready for it not to. And we need to be able to find a greater purpose in this suffering and handle it with firmness and forbearance.
~ Ryan Holiday, from The Obstacle is the Way
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Bruce, deep down you may still be that same great kid you used to be. But it’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.
~ Rachel Dawes, Batman Begins (2005)
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Live every day as if it were your last, for one day you’re sure to be right.
~ Breaker’ Morant, in 1980 film
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In the dust where we have buried the silent races and their abominations we have buried so much of the delicate magic of life.
~ D.H. Lawrence
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What nature requires is close by and easy to obtain. All that sweat is for superfluities. We wear out our fine clothes, grow old in army tents, hurl ourselves against foreign shores, and for what? Everything we need is already at hand. Anyone who is on good terms with poverty is rich.
~ Seneca, letter 4:10-11
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What matters is whether a certain approach gets you to where you want to go. And let’s be clear, using obstacles against themselves is very different from doing nothing. Passive resistance is, in fact, incredibly active. But those actions come in the form of discipline, self-control, fearlessness, determination, and grand strategy.
~ Ryan Holiday
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The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
~ Oscar Wilde
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