Quotes
“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.”
― James A. Michener
“I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
― George Orwell
“Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
“The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.”
― William Blake
“Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love.”
― John Steinbeck
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
― Joseph Campbell
“Above all, don’t lie to yourself.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky
“To laugh often and much: To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
― Albert Camus
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
― Anaïs Nin
“He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.”
― Lao Tzu
“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.”
― Yousuf Karsh
“The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I'm looking for the truth,’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.”
― Robert M. Pirsig
"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."
― William James
“I never allow myself to hold an opinion on anything that I don't know the other side's argument better than they do.”
― Charlie Munger
“The strength of a person's spirit would then be measured by how much 'truth' he could tolerate, or more precisely, to what extent he needs to have it diluted, disguised, sweetened, muted, falsified.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
"In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
― Friedrich Nietzsche
“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.”
― John Steinbeck
“Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled. And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.”
― Chuck Palahniuk
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is—infinite.”
― William Blake
“Learn the rules like a pro, so that you can break them like an artist.”
― Pablo Picasso
“To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.”
― Charlie Munger
“I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up, and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.”
― Charlie Munger
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
― Bruce Lee
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
― Bruce Lee
“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”
― Steve Jobs
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
― Steve Jobs
"Think of your life as a rainbow arcing across the horizon of this world. You appear, have a chance to blaze in the sky, then you disappear. To know my arc will fall makes me want to blaze while I am in the sky. Not for others, but for myself, for the trail I know I am leaving."
― Steve Jobs
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.”
― Ernest Hemingway
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
― Ernest Hemingway
“Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.”
― Ernest Hemingway
“To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That's what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul—would you understand why that's much harder?”
― Ayn Rand
“Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive.”
― Robert M. Pirsig
“The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.”
― George Orwell
“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone.”
― Robert M. Pirsig