Mark Manson Quotes

“Choosing what to pursue is more important than choosing how to pursue it. Make sure you’re facing the right direction before you start running.”
Mark Manson

“Toxic people get all the attention. Healthy people get all the happiness.”
Mark Manson

“We are often drawn to chaotic romantic partners because their chaos guarantees that we will always feel needed. In contrast, dating someone with their shit together is, in some ways, terrifying—they are so functional and self-sufficient and self-contained, how could we ever know that they need us? The answer is: they don’t need us. Yet they choose to spend their life with us anyway. And that is far more powerful.”
Mark Manson

“There’s no such thing as a bad emotion—only bad reactions to emotions.”
Mark Manson

“The toxicity of self-discipline occurs when it is shame-driven, when you buy into a narrative that you are worthless or a failure for not being disciplined. I try to view both self-discipline and self-care as tools/skills. It’s important to be able to do hard things when necessary. But that doesn’t mean doing hard things is always necessary. Similarly, it’s important to be able to slow down and enjoy yourself when necessary. But that doesn’t mean slowing down and enjoying yourself is always necessary.”
Mark Manson

“The older I get, the more I realize that success at most things isn’t about finding the one trick or secret nobody knows about. It’s consistently doing the boring, mundane things everyone knows about but is too unfocused/undisciplined to do. Get good at boring.”
Mark Manson

“Statistically speaking, a ‘normal person’ is physically unhealthy, emotionally anxious/depressed, socially lonely, and financially in debt. Fuck being normal.”
Mark Manson

“I find that most people who believe ‘society’ is going to judge their failures harshly are actually just surrounded by 1-2 people who judge their failures harshly—usually a friend or family member. Ultimately, you want to surround yourself with people who understand that trying and failing are a natural part of life and will encourage you to overcome mistakes. If those people aren’t around you right now, make an effort to find them and surround yourself with them as soon as possible.”
Mark Manson

“The most important thing family teaches you is how to actively love a person you don’t necessarily like.”
Mark Manson

“If you had to spend your life doing things with total anonymity—i.e., no one would ever know how successful/unsuccessful you were at anything—what would you spend your time doing? Find that and pour everything into winning at that game.”
Mark Manson

“Social comparison is inevitable—we can’t help that. What we can help is the nature of that comparison. Are you making unrealistic assumptions about someone else? Are you fully aware of their internal struggles? Are you sure you’re better/worse off than they are?”
Mark Manson

“Choosing to be nice is strength. Feeling compelled to always be nice is weakness. Choosing when to be disagreeable, when required, is strength. Always being disagreeable is weakness.”
Mark Manson

“Anger can be productive. Disappointment can be educational. Frustration can be transformative. Happiness can be misleading. Focus less on the emotion itself and more on how you choose to react to it.”
Mark Manson

“People often mistake highs for happiness. Highs are short-lived and intense. They leave you feeling empty afterward. Therefore highs often become addictive. Happiness is long-lived and calming. It’s like pleasant background music to everything else you do in life. Happiness is the side effect of wanting to chase nothing, change nothing.”
Mark Manson

“Approach life advice not like immutable laws but rather like trying on clothes. Some advice will fit you well and flatter you. Other advice will not. Advice that may work great on one person may work terribly on the next. Pick and choose your advice to suit your personality and the occasion. Feel free to discard old advice any time it stops working for you.”
Mark Manson

“We tend to be most rigid in our identities in areas that we’ve been hurt the most. People who grow up in poverty tend to have the most inflexible views on money and wealth. People who grow up unattractive tend to have the most rigid views about appearance. These rigid views about ourselves and the world helped us survive at one point, but when held onto for too long, they eventually hold us back.”
Mark Manson

“In what areas of your life are you rigid about your identity? Chances are, these are the same areas in your life that generate the most stress and conflict.”
Mark Manson

“Whenever someone says you can’t do something—what they really mean is that they can’t do it.”
Mark Manson

“Our definitions of ‘success’ are maybe the most common way we torture ourselves with arbitrary standards and made-up problems. It’s one reason I advise people to be careful and hold their goals lightly—because while goals may motivate you in the short run, a poorly defined version of success can really make you suffer in the long run.”
Mark Manson

“Living well means spending more time on things that matter. Living poorly means spending more time on things that don’t matter. Wisdom is knowing the difference.”
Mark Manson