“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)
“To an artist, rejection, at first, feels like death. That’s how personal the work is. And that’s why we’re afraid to do the work. Because then we have to show it. And then they might reject it. But rejection is only a death if you let it stop you from doing the work the next day.”
Brian Koppelman, Twitter
“We see the visible signs of opportunity and success in our own lives but we are grasping at an illusion. What really allows for such dramatic changes are the things that occur inside a person. That slow accumulation of knowledge and skills, the incremental improvements in work habits, and the ability to withstand criticism. Any change in people’s fortunes is merely the visible manifestation of all of that deep preparation over time.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 37)
“It is better to know several basic rules of life than to study many unnecessary sciences. The major rules of life will stop you from evil and show you the good path in life; but the knowledge of many unnecessary sciences may lead you into the temptation of pride, and stop you from understanding the basic rules of life.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 37)
“Your enemy will pay you back with rage, will make you suffer, but the biggest damage to you will be caused by the rage and hatred existing in your heart. Neither your father, nor your mother, nor all your family can make you more good than your heart can when it forgives and forgets its abuse.”
Dhammapada, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 35)
“Most people, consciously or unconsciously, seek to avoid tedium, pain, and any form of adversity. They try to put themselves in places where they will face less criticism and minimize their chances of failure. You must choose to move in the opposite direction. You want to embrace negative experiences, limitations, and even pain as the perfect means of building up your skill levels and sharpening your sense of purpose.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 34)
“It seems to us that the most important work in the world is the work which is visible, which we can see: building a house, plowing the land, feeding cattle, gathering fruits; and that the work which is invisible, the work done by our soul, is not important. But our invisible work at the improvement of our soul is the most important work in the world, and all other visible kinds of work are useful only when we do this major work.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 33)
“We would think a man insane who, instead of covering his house with a roof and putting windows in his window frames, goes out in stormy weather, and scolds the wind, the rain, and the clouds. But we all do the same when we scold and blame the evil in other people instead of fighting the evil which exists in us. It is possible to get rid of the evil inside of us, as it is possible to make a roof and windows for our house. This is possible. But it is not possible for us to destroy evil in this world, just as we cannot order the weather to change and the clouds to disappear. If, instead of teaching others, we would educate and improve ourselves, then there would be less evil in this world, and all people would live better lives.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 33)
“You are here not merely to gratify your impulses and consume what others have made but to make and contribute as well, to serve a higher purpose. To serve this higher purpose, you must cultivate what is unique about you. Stop listening so much to the words and opinions of others, telling you who you are and what you should like and dislike. Judge things and people for yourself.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 31)
“Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”
Carl Jung, via The Daily Laws (Page 30)