“In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field and border on the religious.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 21)
“Christ expressed all His teachings in His last commandment: ‘Love each other, as I loved you. Everyone will see that you are my disciples, if you love each other.’ He did not say, ‘If you believe,’ but ‘If you love.’ Faith can change with time, because our knowledge is constantly changing. Love, on the contrary, never changes; love is eternal.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 20)
“Good advice at the wrong time is bad advice. Life is full of seasons and each season has different requirements. Know what season you are in, and you can better identify which ideas to utilize.”
James Clear, Blog
“If we want and need desperately to sleep, we are less likely to fall asleep. If we absolutely must give the best talk possible at some conference, we become hyper-anxious about the result, and the performance suffers. If we desperately need to find an intimate partner or make friends, we are more likely to push them away. If instead we relax and focus on other things, we are more likely to fall asleep or give a great talk or charm people. The most pleasurable things in life occur as a result of something not directly intended and expected.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 19)
“Kindness enriches our life; with kindness mysterious things become clear, difficult things become easy, and dull things become cheerful.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 19)
“(1) Do not postpone for tomorrow what you can do today. (2) Do not force another person to do what you can do by yourself. (3) Pride costs more than all that is necessary for food, drink, shelter, or dress. (4) We suffer so much, thinking about what could have happened, but not about what has actually happened. (5) If you lose your temper, count up to ten before you do or say anything. If you haven’t calmed down, then count to a hundred; and if you have not calmed down after this, count up to a thousand.”
Thomas Jefferson, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 19)
“There’s a better cause right around the corner. It might not work. You’ll never be able to keep all the promises. It can’t last forever. We’re all going to die. It’s not perfect. Someone might steal your idea. There will be critics. You’re not ready. Someone else is going to do it. It’s not that important. It might not work. On the other hand… Now is better than later, and perfect is an illusion. Act as if. Simply begin. Make things better by making better things. You can always improve it later.”
Seth Godin, Blog
“It’s important to strive to do good, and even more important to strive to abstain from evil.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 18)
“Be afraid to destroy the unity of people by stirring bad feelings amongst them against another with your words.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 17)
“This can be the source of your unhappiness—your lack of connection to who you are and what makes you unique. The first move toward mastery is always inward—learning who you really are and reconnecting with that innate force. Knowing it with clarity, you will find your way to the proper career path and everything else will fall into place. It is never too late to start this process.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 13)
“We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us… The lives that you admire, the attitudes that seem noble to you are not the result of training at home, by a father, or by masters at school, they have sprung from beginnings of a very different order, by reaction from the influence of everything evil or commonplace that prevailed round about them. They represent a struggle and a victory.”
Marcel Proust, via The Daily Laws (Page 5)
“Kind people help each other even without noticing that they are doing so, and evil people act against each other on purpose.”
Chinese Proverb, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 16)
“Those who know the rules of true wisdom are baser than those who love them. Those who love them are baser than those who follow them.”
Chinese Proverb, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 15)
“At the heart of all religions lies a single unifying truth. Let Persians bear their taovids, Jews wear their caps, Christians bear their cross, Muslims bear their sickle moon, but we have to remember that these are all only outer signs. The general essence of all religions is love to your neighbor, and that this is requested by Manuf, Zoroaster, Buddha, Moses, Socrates, Jesus, Saint Paul, and Mohammed alike.”
Ewald Flügel, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 14)
“There are too many mediocre books which exist just to entertain your mind. Therefore, read only those books which are accepted without doubt as good.”
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 13)
“What can be more precious than to communicate every day with the wisest men of the world?”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 7)
“Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.”
George Bernard Shaw, via Sunbeams (Page 159)
“If you want to write the truth, you must write about yourself. I am the only real truth I know.”
Jean Rhys, via Sunbeams (Page 159)
“There is a palace that opens only to tears.”
Zohar, via Sunbeams (Page 159)
“There are two kinds of faithfulness in love: one is based on forever finding new things to love in the loved one; the other is based on our pride in being faithful.”
François La Rochefoucauld, via Sunbeams (Page 158)