“I would die without my [insert luxury item], we’ll say in jest. How can anybody live like this? we’ll ask not so rhetorically. The answer? They’re stronger than you. ‘The more a man is,’ the editor Maxwell Perkins had inscribed on his mantel, ‘the less he wants.’ When you strip away the unnecessary and the excessive, what’s left is you. What’s left is what’s important.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 36)
“A person who lives below their means has far more latitude than a person who can’t. That’s why Michelangelo, the artist, didn’t live as austerely as Cato but he avoided the gifts dangled by his wealthy patrons. He didn’t want to owe anyone. Real wealth, he understood, was autonomy.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 35)
“There’s something sobering about moments when mortality decides to pull up a chair and join you for a chat. It doesn’t matter who you are, how much kale you’ve eaten, or whether you can still squeeze into your high school jeans on your 60th birthday. (Spoiler Alert: I cannot). Mortality reminds us that we’re all just passing through, and none of us gets to skip the check-out line. Death doesn’t discriminate. But here’s the twist: Mortality isn’t here to ruin the party. It’s here to remind us to live.”
Craig Misewicz
“Our society tends to give bigger meaning to relationships that last for longer lengths of time, and without taking away from the beauty of these partnerships, this is not always the truth. Even relationships that last for weeks or months can leave an undeniable impact on the mind and the heart. No love or care that you received is lost. Just as past difficulties continue to impact you, so does past love. What matters is not time, but the depth of the connection and how the connection affected that specific chapter of your life.”
Yung Pueblo
“Some of the most meaningful relationships do not last a lifetime. There are moments when we become so deeply entwined with another individual that it sparks profound growth and gives us vital direction as we move forward in life. Sometimes you share a chapter of your life with an individual so you can both get through a serious hurdle. You were not meant to be together for a lifetime, but you were meant to help each other reach a new level.”
Yung Pueblo
7 Lessons Learned From My Dad—Read To Him At His 70th Birthday Party
Excerpt: I could have easily written 70, but being concise is something (else) my dad taught me. So here are seven standout lessons learned from my dad instead.
Read More »7 Lessons Learned From My Dad—Read To Him At His 70th Birthday Party
“When we desire more than we need, we make ourselves vulnerable. When we overextend ourselves, when we chase, we are not self-sufficient. This is why Cato declined expensive gifts, why he did his political work for no pay, why he traveled with few servants and kept things simple. A Spartan king was once asked what the Spartans got from their ‘spartan’ habits. ‘Freedom is what we reap from this way of life,’ he told him.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 34)
“We are meant for more than simply existing. We are here for more than just lying around and seeking pleasure. We have been given incredible gifts by nature. We are an apex predator, a freakishly elite product of millions of years of evolution. How will you choose to spend this bounty? By letting your assets atrophy?”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 26)
“She was no longer a child, and yet for all her responsibilities, everything was quite simple: Her kids needed her to be an adult. So did her unfinished novel. Wake up. Show up. Be present. Give it everything you’ve got.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 19)
“Like Lou Gehrig, each of us is in a battle with our physical form. First, to master it and bring it to its full potential. Second, as we age or get sick, to arrest its decline—to quite literally wrest the life from it while we can. The body, you must understand, is a metaphor. It’s a training ground, a proving ground for the mind and the soul.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 16)
“You are better equipped to deal with stress when you are moving. When you feel tense or frustrated or worried, it is difficult to think your way into feeling better. The more you think about the situation, the larger it becomes in your mind. Trying to think your way out of it often leads to a spiral of overthinking and rumination. The first step is not to think something different, but to do something different. It doesn’t matter what. Stretch on the floor, go for a walk, work on a project. Get out of your mind and move your body.”
James Clear
“Love is the most luxurious thing in the world. It is not a need—it is the last luxury, the ultimate in luxuries. If you are needing it, it is just as other needs; one needs food, one needs shelter, one needs clothes, one needs this and that. Then love is also part of this world. When there is no need and you are simply flowing with energy and would like to share with somebody, and somebody is also flowing with energy and would like to share with you, then you both offer your energies to an unknown God of love. And it is sheer luxury, because it is purposeless. It has no business to do. It is intrinsic—it is not a means to anything else. It is a great play.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 350)