“Giving away so much of your time to the requests of others will stop you from giving time to what is good and nourishing for you. Betraying yourself is not virtuous. Constantly saying yes to please others will lead to burnout. Say no frequently if you want to create a clear space in your life for what matters most to you.”
Yung Pueblo
“When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you. But you should still be kind to them. They are by nature your friends, and the gods too help them in various ways—dreams and divination—at least to the objects of their concern.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 88)
“If you’d like to do something bold with your life, you will have to choose to do something bold on a specific day. There is no perfect day. There is no right time. For the trajectory to change, there has to be one day when you simply make the choice.”
James Clear, Blog
“What you do on your ordinary days determines what you can achieve on your extraordinary days.”
James Clear, Blog
“The sinner sins against himself: the wrongdoer wrongs himself, by making himself morally bad.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 85)
“Do you want the praise of a man who curses himself three times an hour? Do you want to please a man who can’t please himself? Can a man please himself when he regrets almost everything he does?”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 81)
“Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.”
Shakti Gawain
“Don’t get into this binary thing where you’re looking at Fox or CNN. Read the other side. Some of your fellow citizens have good reasons to believe something different than you do. I try to think sometimes about where are they right? Not are they wrong. You’ll become a better thinker. And you earn peoples’ respect. By telling the truth, being a team player. Team player doesn’t mean you don’t complain. It means you complain if we are doing something stupid.”
Jaime Dimon
“Ask yourself this about each action: ‘How does this sit with me? Shall I regret it?’ In short while I am dead and all things are gone. What more do I want, if this present work is that of an intelligent and social being, sharing one law with god?”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 76)
“When you have done good and another has benefited, why do you still look, as fools do, for a third thing besides—credit for good works, or a return?”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 69)
“The happy life depends on very little. And do not think, just because you have given up hope of becoming a philosopher or a scientist, you should therefore despair of a free spirit, integrity, social conscience, obedience to god. It is wholly possible to become a ‘divine man’ without anybody’s recognition.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 68)
“If you set a boundary with someone and they leave. That’s good. The boundary worked. The point of boundaries isn’t to “fix” relationships. It’s to protect your mental and emotional health from toxic relationships. Sometimes that happens by healing the relationship. Other times that happens by losing the relationship.”
Mark Manson
“Dig inside yourself. Inside there is a spring of goodness ready to gush at any moment, if you keep digging.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 67)
“Imagine you were now dead, or had not lived before this moment. Now view the rest of your life as a bonus, and live it as nature directs.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 66)
“I’ve realized that for some reason, God placed the most beautiful things in life on the other side of our worst terrors. If we are not willing to stand in the face of the things that most deeply unnerve us, and then step across the invisible line into the land of dread, then we won’t get to experience the best that life has to offer.”
Will Smith, Will (Page 406)
“This relationship is our classroom—we are learning to cultivate care, concern, and compassion in the most intimate and difficult of circumstances. There are few things in life more challenging than being married. The intimacy tends to stir up and expose our most poisonous inner energies. If we can learn to love here, we can love anywhere.”
Will Smith, Will (Page 404)
“Look back over the past—all those many changes of dynasties. And you can foresee the future too: it will be completely alike, incapable of deviating from the rhythm of the present. So for the study of human life forty years are as good as ten thousand: what more will you see?”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (Page 65)
“Top performers get back on track faster than most. This is the skill to develop. You will be interrupted, but you can choose to keep it brief.”
James Clear, Blog