Skip to content

    “If life is fair, and it will be, it will serve you immeasurable beauties, joys and pleasures—you will feel at times that you do not have the capacity to take them in. You will. Our hearts they are boundless. If life is fair, and it will be, it will bring you huge, merciless sorrows. Devastations of your boundless heart. I wish for you the grace to persevere and accept them across time, for that is the only way these kinds of things can be taken in. A wise and articulate student once told me that struggle is vital. For all of the mundane days in between joy and sorrow? Persevere.”

    Dan Weiss | Read Matt’s Blog on this Quote ➜

      “The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune. You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.”

      Sheldon B. Kopp, If You Meet Buddha On The Road, Kill Him! (Page 223)

        “It is easy to blame your lot in life on some outside force, to stop trying because you believe fate is against you. It is easy to think that where you were raised, how your parents treated you, or what school you went to is all that determines your future. Nothing could be further from the truth. The common people and the great men and women are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness: Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawking, Malala Yousafsai, and—Moki Martin.”

        William A. McRaven, Make Your Bed (Page 42) | ★ Featured on this book list.

          “The average person wants to get paid back. They want everything to be fair. They want everything to be balanced. But you’re not gonna get it from them. The way you feel you’re getting paid, the way you feel things are being rebalanced, is to get your satisfaction from the exercise [forgiveness/ letting go/ love] itself. That’s called Active Love.”

          Phil Stutz, Stutz

            “Our circumstances can be unfair, unjust, unexpected. Yet? This doesn’t absolve us of needing to figure out how to navigate them, make good use of them. Seneca could not change the fact of his exile…but he could transform it. The same is true for us. Whatever life hands us or a tyrant hands down for us, we have to make it right. We have to create justice and progress and good from it. It’s unfair, but it is fate. We can turn this misfortune into a better future. It is the only way forward.”

            Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic Blog

            Choose Your Hard

              Choose your hard.

              “Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.
              Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.
              Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard.
              Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.
              Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”

              Unknown

              Beyond the Quote (336/365)

              We’re wired to follow the path of least resistance. But, choosing to do what’s easy now doesn’t last. In fact, in almost every case, it only makes life harder later. It’s the principle of delayed gratification (more on this below).

              So, while life can be easier from choosing the easier options, the truth is, it’s only a temporary easier. Experiencing the “hard” in life is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. And take heed, hard now and hard later are not created equal.

              Read More »Choose Your Hard

                “If things are not going well for you—well, that might be because, as the most cynical of aphorisms has it, life sucks, and then you die.  Before your crisis impels you to that hideous conclusion, however, you might consider the following: Life doesn’t have the problem.  You do.  At least that realization leaves you with some options.  If your life is not going well, perhaps it is your current knowledge that is insufficient, not life itself.  Perhaps your value structure needs some serious retooling.  Perhaps what you want is blinding you to what else could be.  Perhaps you are holding on to your desires, in the present, so tightly that you cannot see anything else—even what you truly need.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 94)

                  “We know life can be hard, and yet we feel sorry for ourselves when it isn’t fair.  From this point forward, accept the following as Goggins’ laws of nature:  You will be made fun of.  You will feel insecure.  You may not be the best all the time.  You may be the only black, white, Asian, Latino, female, male, gay, lesbian, or [fill in your identity here] in a given situation.  There will be times when you feel alone.  Get over it!  Our minds are f*cking strong, they are our most powerful weapon, but we have stopped using them.” ~ David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me

                    “Life is not going to pick us up when we fall.  There will be forks in the road, knives in your f*cking back, mountains to climb, and we are only capable of living up to the image we create for ourselves.  Prepare yourself!” ~ David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me

                      “Fairness is an illusion.  Fairness never existed and never will.  No one in life gets less or more than anyone else.  We just get different stuff.  That’s right.  No one is dealt a bad or a good hand in life; we’re just dealt cards.  It’s up to us to stay in the game and play.  Sure, some cards look ‘better,’ but they’re really not.  If you look closely, you’ll see that anything you feel has been taken from you – or never given to you at all – was replaced with other amazing opportunities and gifts.  It’s up to you to find them.” ~ Sean Stephenson, Get Off Your “But”

                        “One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t. When we make this mistake we tend to spend a lot of time wallowing and/or complaining about what’s wrong with life. “It’s not fair,” we complain, not realizing that, perhaps, it was never intended to be.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff