Excerpt: Anyone can bring meaning into his or her life by undertaking a quest. Don’t believe it? Read these 18 quotes from The Happiness of Pursuit and find out for yourself.
“Every day matters. The awareness of our mortality can help us pursue a goal. We all have a limited amount of time on earth. Those who live in active awareness of this reality are more likely to identify goals and make progress toward them. Or to put it another way: Everyone dies, but not everyone truly lives.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 268)
“The right time to leave is when you’re ready, not just when someone else makes the decision for you. When a good thing reaches its natural end, don’t drag it out. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 234)
“The right kind of misadventures—the ones that yield information—can produce confidence.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 222) (Read Matt’s Blog On this Quote)
“If you’re going to worry about something, worry about the cost of not pursuing your dream.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 222)
“Regret is what you should fear the most. If something is going to keep you awake at night, let it be the fear of not following your dream. Be afraid of settling.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 220)
“The long, slow grind of working toward something is all about loving the process. If you don’t love the process, the grind is tough. The grind is also a dangerous time. It’s when you’re tempted to give up, call it a day, or at least cut corners.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 195)
“Understanding what bothers you is just as important as understanding what excites you.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 192)
“Find what troubles you about the world, then fix it for the rest of us.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 179)
“Even with the support of others, it’s hard to struggle through hardship without sufficient motivation of your own.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 175)
“Must a dream have only one owner? Not if two or more minds see the world from the same perspective.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 175)
“If your family or close friends don’t understand your dream, you need to find people who do.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 175)
“Effort can be its own reward if you let it.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 164) (Read Matt’s Blog On This Quote)
“We can’t opt out of monotony, but we can choose which form it takes.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 150) (Read Matt’s Blog On This Quote)
“You know how you meet people and they ask, ‘What do you do?’ You can always say that you’re a teacher or a student, an accountant or an artist, or whatever your vocation. But once you have a quest, you have another answer, too. Your identity isn’t tied to a job; your identity is who you really are. I’m trying to visit every country in the world. I’m on a quest to publish one million processed photos. I’m going to produce the largest symphony ever performed.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 123)
“If you want to make every day an adventure, all you have to do is prioritize adventure. It has to become more important than routine.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 87)
“As much as it sounds trite to ‘live like you’re dying’ or ‘live every day as if it were your last,’ that’s exactly what many people obsessed with a quest do. This shift from an intellectual awareness that we will someday die to an emotional awareness can be a guiding light to discovering what really matters.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 54)
“All of us will someday die. Yet not all of us live in a state of active awareness of this reality. In the words of a great Bob Dylan song, ‘He not busy being born is busy dying,’ and perhaps some of us are busier than others.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 58)
“Every day matters. The emotional awareness of mortality can help us pursue a goal.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 54)
“Many quests begin from a sense of discontent or alienation. If you find yourself feeling discontented, pay attention to the reasons why. Add action to discontent: Find a way to do something about the uncertainty you feel.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 38) (Read Matt’s Blog On This Quote)