“A child meets another child with a smile, displaying his friendly attitude and joy. This same behavior lives in all sincere people. But very often, a man from one nation already hates a man from another nation, and is ready to cause him sufferings and even death, even before he meets him. Those who create these feelings in nations commit a terrible crime!”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 52)
“Choosing the right mentor is like being able to choose your own parents; the wrong choice is fatal.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 57)
“Remember how passionately you yearned in the past for many of the things which you hate or despise now. Remember how many things you lost trying to satisfy your former desires. The same thing could happen now, with the desires which excite you at present. Try to tame your present desires, calm them; this is most beneficial, and most achievable.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 49)
“Many people worry, and suffer, because they have been involved in so many bad things in their lives. In truth, though, good things often happen in spite of our wishes, and sometimes even in opposition to our wishes, and often after our excitement and suffering over unworthy things.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 49)
“Here’s the thing about your heroes: You have to know about them to look up to them. The candidate pool is 100% limited by your exposure. That’s why so many kids look up to athletes, I think. They haven’t been exposed to enough other people to look up to them. Here’s how I think about that: Who haven’t I been exposed to that would inspire me if I knew they existed or knew the details of their lives? And how could I learn about those people?”
Barrett Brooks
“Many of us seek community solely to escape the fear of being alone. Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”
bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions
“Have no single point of failure. Have no single path to success.”
James Clear, Blog
“Practical knowledge is the ultimate commodity and is what will pay you dividends for decades to come—far more than the paltry increase in pay you might receive at some seemingly lucrative position that offers fewer learning opportunities.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 53)
“A man condemned to immediate execution will not think about the growth of his estate, or about achieving glory, or about the victory of one group over another, or about the discovery of a new planet. But one minute before his death a man may wish to console an abused person, or help an old person to stand up, or to put a bandage on someone’s injury, or to repair a toy for a child.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 46)
“Make the world question whether or not there isn’t one of you but ten of you. Create. Create. Create. Create some more. If you’re young, when you’re young, sacrifice everything. Sacrifice love if you have to (because if it’s love it won’t get away). Sacrifice sleep. Sacrifice peace of mind. Sacrifice sorry looks from family members at the dinner table. Sacrifice your pride. Make ends meet through whatever means possible by day and once the light turns to darkness, follow your muse like a hound on the scent of some bloody, dying thing.”
Cole Schafer
“A man consists of body and soul. Thus often, especially in his youth, he is interested only in his body, but nevertheless, the most essential part of every man is not his body, but his soul. It is your soul that you must take care of, not your body. You must learn this over time, and remember that your real life is in your spirit, that is, in your soul. Save it from everyday dirt and do not let your flesh guide it; subdue your body to your soul, and then you will fulfill your destiny and live a happy life.”
Marcus Aurelius, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 44)
“We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.”
Baron De Montesquieu, The Daily Laws (Page 51)
“If you want to study yourself—look into the hearts of other people. If you want to study other people—look into your own heart.”
Friedrich Von Schiller, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 41)
“The merit of a man is not in the knowledge he possesses, but in the effort he made to achieve it.”
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 41)
“You can achieve wisdom in three ways. the first way is the way of meditation. This is the most noble way. The second way is the way of imitation. This is the easiest and least satisfying way. Thirdly, there is the way of experience. This is the most difficult way.”
Confucius, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 41)
“The person who gets 1 shot needs everything to go right. The person who gets 1000 shots is going to score at some point. Find a way to play the game that ensures you get a lot of shots.”
James Clear, Blog
“When I started writing this piece, I didn’t know where exactly I was going to land. I never know where I’m going to land when I start writing something. In fact, I’m deeply skeptical of any writer that claims they have the precognition to know where they’re going to end up before they’ve even started.”
Cole Schafer
“Over the centuries, people have placed a wall around mastery. They have called it genius and have thought of it as inaccessible. they have seen it as the product of privilege, inborn talent, or just the right alignment of the stars. They have made it seem as if it were as elusive as magic. But that wall is imaginary. This is the real secret: the brain that we possess is the work of six million years of development, and more than anything else, this evolution of the brain was designed to lead us to mastery, the latent power within us all.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 39)
“A wise man loves not because he wants to profit from it but because he finds bliss in love itself.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 39)