“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”
Gustave Flaubert, via Discipline Is Destiny (Page 42) | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
“For very few of us—no matter the profession—’When are you at your best?’ is answered with ‘When I am drowning in paperwork, dirty dishes, half-empty water bottles, and floors that haven’t been swept.’ The session in the weight room goes better when the weights are stacked and the dumbbells are in the right place. The craftsman is safer when the workshop is tidy. The team plays better when the locker room is kept up. The meetings run tighter when the conference room is fresh and sparse. The general ensures troop discipline by keeping their own quarters spartan and spotless. The space where great work is done is holy. We must respect it.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 41)
“I tell my students, one of the most important things they need to know is when they are their best, creatively. They need to ask themselves, What does the ideal room look like? Is there music? Is there silence? Is there chaos outside or is there serenity outside? What do I need in order to release my imagination?”
Toni Morrison, via Discipline Is Destiny (Page 40)
“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
“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)
“[Lou Gehrig] knew that getting comfortable was the enemy, and that success is an endless series of invitations to get comfortable. It’s easy to be disciplined when you have nothing. What about when you have everything? What about when you’re so talented that you can get away with not giving everything? The thing about Lou Gehrig is that he chose to be in control. This wasn’t discipline enforced from above or by the team. His temperance was an interior force, emanating from deep within his soul. He chose it, despite the sacrifices, despite the fact that others allowed themselves to forgo such penance and got away with it. Despite the face that it usually wasn’t recognized—not until long after he was gone anyway.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 9)
“[Lou] Gehrig was fully ready to admit that his discipline meant he missed out on a few pleasures. He also knew that those who live the fast or the easy life miss something too—they fail to full realize their own potential. Discipline isn’t deprivation… it brings rewards.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 8)
“Whenever you participate in creating beauty, it is there; whenever you stop creating, it is not. Beauty is a creation; so is ugliness. Happiness is a creation; so is misery. You get only that which you create, and you never get anything else. That is the whole philosophy of karma: You get only that which you do. Life is just a blank canvas—you can paint a beautiful scene, a landscape, or you can paint black ghosts and dangerous people. It’s up to you. You can make a beautiful dream or a nightmare. Once this is understood, things are very simple. You are the master; it is your responsibility.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 349)
“As a rookie, Joe DiMaggio once asked [Lou] Gehrig who he though was going to pitch for the opposing team, hoping perhaps, to hear it was someone easy to hit. ‘Never worry about that, Joe,’ Gehrig explained. ‘Just remember they always save the best for the Yankees.’ And by extension, he expected every member of the Yankees to bring their best with them too. That was the deal: To whom much is given, much is expected. The obligation of a champion is to act like a champion… while working as hard as somebody with something to prove.”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 7)
“Once you start compromising, well, now you’re compromised…”
Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny (Page 7)
“The conspiracy theorist in your Facebook feed. The politically radicalized family member. The angry stranger looking for an argument. Crazy people and crazy situations are opportunities to practice virtue. To show courage by standing firm in your principles. To demonstrate justice by treating them fairly despite their unfairness to you. To exercise temperance by controlling your emotions when they’re trying to provoke you. To insist on what’s right. To fight for change where you can. To put your efforts where they make a positive difference.”
Ryan Holiday