“It is one of the great troubles of life that we cannot have any unmixed emotions. There is always something in our enemy that we like, and something in our sweetheart that we dislike.”
William Butler Yeats, via Sunbeams (Page 102)
“The most dangerous man in the world is the contemplative who is guided by nobody. He trusts his own visions. He obeys the attractions of an interior voice, but will not listen to other men. He identifies the will of God with anything that makes him feel, within his own heart, a big, warm, sweet interior glow. The sweeter and the warmer the feeling, the more he is convinced of his own infallibility. And if the sheer force of his own self-confidence communicates itself to other people and gives them the impression that he really is a saint, such a man can wreck a whole city or a religious order or even a nation. The world is covered with scars that have been left in its flesh by visionaries like these.”
Thomas Merton, via Sunbeams (Page 77)
“…we die to each other daily.
What we know of other people
Is only our memory of the moments
During which we knew them. And they have changed since then.
To pretend that they and we are the same
Is a useful and convenient social convention
which must sometimes be broken. We must also remember
That at every meeting we are meeting a stranger.”
T.S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party, via Sunbeams (Page 74)
“We’re all complicated people. We have multiple sides to ourselves—conflicting wants, desires, and fears. The outside world is no less confusing and contradictory. If we’re not careful, all these forces—pushing and pulling—will eventually tear us apart. If we do not focus on our internal integration—on self-awareness—we risk external disintegration.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 73)
“None of us can adequately control the meteorology of other people: they’re nice, they’re nasty, they come, they go. We have no choice but to address, alter and amend the inner coordinate if we want to have a different model of reality, if we want to have more choices.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 122) | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is the awe and circumspection proper to them that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”
C. S. Lewis, Screwtape Proposes A Toast, And Other Pieces, Sunbeams (Page 39)
Marianna Williamson Quote on How All Human Behavior Is Either Love Or A Call For Love
“The way of the miracle-worker is to see all human behavior as one of two things: either love or a call for love.”
Marianna Williamson
Beyond the Quote (Day 405)
I have been a Martial Arts Instructor for my entire professional life and have had the privilege of working with thousands of students of all ages and from all different backgrounds. Based on all of the human behavior that I have experienced, I see it as the same: either as acts of love or as calls for love. And usually, it’s the students who are acting out the most who are calling for love the loudest.
Read More »Marianna Williamson Quote on How All Human Behavior Is Either Love Or A Call For Love
Humans [Book]
Book Overview: Brandon Stanton created Humans of New York in 2010. What began as a photographic census of life in New York City, soon evolved into a storytelling phenomenon. A global audience of millions began following HONY daily. Over the next several years, Stanton broadened his lens to include people from across the world. Traveling to more than forty countries, he conducted interviews across continents, borders, and language barriers. Humans is the definitive catalogue of these travels. The faces and locations will vary from page to page, but the stories will feel deeply familiar. Told with candor and intimacy, Humans will resonate with readers across the globe―providing a portrait of our shared experience.
Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
Brandon Stanton Quote on Connection and How We Connect Through Struggles More Than Victories
“Our struggles connect us. We relate to the challenges of other people much more than we relate to their victories. We empathize with pain much more than joy. The moment we truly see ourselves in another person is when we realize that we’ve felt the exact same pain.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 278)
Beyond the Quote (351/365)
This is the oversight with always wanting to show off. It might make people envy you, but it doesn’t allow people to easily connect with you. If anything, it creates a larger disconnect between where they are and where you portray yourself to be. As Brandon points out above, it’s our struggles that connect us, not our victories.
Read More »Brandon Stanton Quote on Connection and How We Connect Through Struggles More Than VictoriesTulku Thondup Quote on Karma and How We Create Our Own Karma—It Isn’t Fate
“Karma isn’t fate. Nor is it a punishment imposed on us by some external agent. We create our own karma. Karma is the result of the choices that we make every moment of every day.”
Tulku Thondup
Beyond the Quote (350/365)
Karma is real. Maybe I can’t describe it in a metaphysical sense, but I can certainly describe it from a common sensical, sense. When somebody texts me asking if I want a coffee while they’re at the café—I can promise you it makes me want to text them when I’m at the café next. When somebody brings in food for me, just because—it makes me think about getting food for them on a random, “just because,” day, too. When somebody does a favor for me, it leaves me feeling grateful and in their debt—which makes me want to return a favor. Karma, undoubtedly, returns.
Read More »Tulku Thondup Quote on Karma and How We Create Our Own Karma—It Isn’t Fate“Despite having interviewed thousands of people, I still learn something new from each person I meet. Everyone has a unique expertise. The quickest way to find a person’s expertise is by learning their struggle. What they’ve battled. What they’ve carried with them the longest. Because it’s what they’ve thought about the most.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 278)
“It’s amazing how people transform when they realize you’re not a threat. They become much more relatable. More familiar. More recognizable. Big cities can feel so isolating because we rarely get past this point with people. Everyone is hiding behind their shield. They’re on guard at all times. At least until the end of the day, when they get back home, around people they love and trust, and suddenly become themselves again.”
Brandon Stanton, Humans (Page 24)
3 Reasons Why Bad Relationships Are More Harmful Than Good Relationships Are Beneficial
Excerpt: I see it time and time again where a “bad” relationship causes more harm than a “good” relationship causes benefit. The question is… why?
Read More »3 Reasons Why Bad Relationships Are More Harmful Than Good Relationships Are Beneficial
Louise Hay Quote on Problems and How They Fix Themselves When We Fix Our Thinking
“I don’t fix problems, I fix my thinking. Then problems fix themselves.”
Louise Hay
Beyond the Quote (337/365)
Life isn’t easy—for any of us. I think we all can agree on that. If so, it can be assumed that life is hard—for all of us. Now, we can never know for sure how “hard” life is or isn’t for another person. We can only ever judge another person’s life from the outside looking in, which is an INCREDIBLY limited and superficial perspective. Of course, if someone is homeless or without basic necessities for survival, there are assumptions of “hard” that we can validly make. But, when it comes to judging the other people around us, how a person’s life appears to be and how their life actually is should never be assumed to be the same thing.
Read More »Louise Hay Quote on Problems and How They Fix Themselves When We Fix Our ThinkingMaya Angelou Quote on Legacy and What People Most Remember About You
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou
Beyond the Quote (326/365)
For as much as I work with quotes, you’d think I’d be better at remembering exactly what people said—I don’t. There are phrases, of course, that have stuck with me for one poignant or arbitrary reason or another, but I undoubtedly forget more than I remember. Heck, I can’t even quote myself for more than a few sentences! Think about the last time you tried to memorize a speech… how much of it could you memorize? Quoting is hard. People will (mostly) forget what you said.
Read More »Maya Angelou Quote on Legacy and What People Most Remember About You