“Events in life mean nothing if you do not reflect on them in a deep way, and ideas from books are pointless if they have no application to life as you life it. In strategy all of life is a game that you are playing. This game is exciting but also requires deep and serious attention. The stakes are so high. What you know must translate into action, and action must translate into knowledge. In this way strategy becomes a lifelong challenge and the source of constant pleasure in surmounting difficulties and solving problems.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 303)
“Sorrow are our best educator. A man can see further through a tear than a telescope.”
Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts (Page 100)
“Socrates thought that stupidity was incompatible with wisdom, but he never said that ignorance was stupidity.”
Xenophon, via A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 203)
“What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is the real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds ‘body feel’ and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning and imposing limitation and squelches creativity.”
Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts (Page 11)
“I seek neither your approval nor to influence you. So do not make up your mind as to ‘this is this’ or ‘that is that.’ I will be more than satisfied if you begin to learn to investigate everything yourself from now on.”
Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts (Page 2)
“A teacher is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst.”
Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts (Page xvi)
“Knowledge is always progressing. Don’t let your ego fool you. You are always knowledge’s inferior.”
Robert Greene, The Daily Laws (Page 94)
“Learning never exhausts the mind.”
Leonardo Da Vinci, The Daily Laws (Page 85)
“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)
“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)
“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)
“There are a limitless number of different sciences, but without one basic science, that is, what is the meaning of life and what is good for the people, all other forms of knowledge and art become idle and harmful entertainment.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 30)
“A scholar knows many books; a well-educated person has knowledge and skills; an enlightened person understands the meaning and purpose of his life.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 30)
“A thought can advance your life in the right direction only when it answers questions which were asked by your soul. A thought which was first borrowed from someone else and then accepted by your mind and memory does not really much influence your life, and sometimes leads you in the wrong direction.”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom (Page 21)
