“I try to pull the language into such a sharpness that it jumps off the page. It must look easy, but it takes me forever to get it to look so easy. Of course, there are those critics — New York critics as a rule — who say, Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer. Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.”
Maya Angelou, The Paris Review Interviews: Volume IV
“We cannot predict the value our work will provide to the world. That’s fine. It is not our job to judge our own work. It is our job to create it, to pour ourselves into it, and to master our craft as best we can.”
James Clear, Blog
“If you tell the truth, you have infinite power supporting you; but if not, you have infinite power against you.”
Charles Gordon, via Sunbeams (Page 97)
“The pain of love is the pain of being alive. It’s a perpetual wound.”
Maureen Duffy, via Sunbeams (Page 97)
“Then what makes a beautiful human being? Isn’t it the presence of human excellence? Young friend, if you wish to be beautiful, then work diligently at human excellence. And what is that? Observe those whom you praise without prejudice. The just or the unjust? The just. The even-tempered or the undisciplined? The even-tempered. The self-controlled or the uncontrolled? The self-controlled. In making yourself that kind of person, you will become beautiful—but to the extent you ignore these qualities, you’ll be ugly, even if you use every trick in the book to appear beautiful.”
Epictetus, Discourses, The Daily Stoic (Page 140)
“Boundaries are a part of self-care. They are healthy, normal, and necessary.”
Doreen Virtue | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
“If we could read the secret history of those we would like to punish, we would find in each life enough grief and suffering to make us stop wishing anything more on them.”
Unknown, via Sunbeams (Page 96)
“Gossip isn’t scandal and it isn’t malicious. It’s chatter about the human race by lovers of the same.”
Phyllis McGinley, via Sunbeams (Page 96)
“True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body’s eyes behold. It is a state of mind that has been so unified that darkness cannot be perceived.”
A Course In Miracles, via Sunbeams (Page 96)
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.”
Yoda, Star Wars | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
“The difficulty is to learn to perceive with your whole body, not with just your eyes and reason. The world becomes a stream of tremendously rapid, unique events. So you must trim your body to make it a good receptor. The body is an awareness; and it must be treated impeccably.”
Carlos Castaneda, via Sunbeams (Page 95)
“I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgement. It takes place every day.”
Albert Camus, The Fall, via Sunbeams (Page 95)
“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life… To seek a total unity is wrong. To give as much meaning to one’s life as possible is right to me.”
Anaïs Nin, via Sunbeams (Page 95)
“The conspicuously wealthy earn and ultimately get what they want out of spending: their reputation. But what an empty one! Is it really that impressive to spend, spend, spend? Given the funds, who wouldn’t be able to do that?”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 138)
“Today, or anytime, when you catch yourself wanting to condescendingly drop some knowledge that you have, grab it and ask: Would I be better saying words or letting my actions and choices illustrate that knowledge for me?“
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 137) | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
“Those who receive the bare theories immediately want to spew them, as an upset stomach does its food. First digest your theories and you won’t throw them up. Otherwise they will be raw, spoiled, and not nourishing. After you’ve digested them, show us the changes in your reasoned choices, just like the shoulders of gymnasts display their diet and training, and as the craft of artisans show in what they’ve learned.”
Epictetus, Discourses, The Daily Stoic (Page 137)
“First tell yourself what kind of person you want to be, then do what you have to do. For in nearly every pursuit we see this to be the case. Those in athletic pursuit first choose the sport they want, and then do that work.”
Epictetus, Discourses, The Daily Stoic (Page 136) | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
12 Cal Newport Quotes from ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You’
Excerpt: Follow your passion is bad advice. Read these powerful Cal Newport quotes from ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You’ and find out why…
Read More »12 Cal Newport Quotes from ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You’
