Philosophers Flashcards
(387 cards)
1
Q
What does Seneca say about shaping our life?
A
“If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor; if according to people’s opinions, you will never be rich.”
2
Q
What does Seneca say about bringing up the rear?
A
“Every day, therefore, should be regulated as if it were the one that brings up the rear, the one that rounds out and completes our lives”
3
Q
What does Seneca say about a good character?
A
“A good character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness.”
4
Q
What does Seneca say about liking yourself?
A
“What difference does it make, after all, what your position in life is if you dislike it yourself?”
5
Q
What does Seneca say about the world’s opinions?
A
“Away with the world’s opinion of you—it’s always unsettled and divided.”
6
Q
What does Seneca say about a disposition to good?
A
“Work with stubbornness and strong discipline until our will power to do the right thing leads to a disposition of doing the right thing.”
7
Q
What does Seneca say about focus?
A
“Focus is the concentration of attention to the exclusion of all else. It means putting everything you have into what you’re doing at this very second—whether it’s on work, training, nutrition, a friend or loved one. When you’re focused, you’re not thinking about the past or future. Nothing else enters your mind.”
8
Q
What does Seneca say about the troubled ones?
A
“The worse a person is the less he feels it.”
9
Q
What does Seneca say about the philosopher’s power?
A
“Philosophy’s power to blunt all the blows of circumstance is beyond belief.”
10
Q
What does Seneca say about the philosopher?
A
“The philosopher: he alone knows how to live for himself. He is the one, in fact, who knows the fundamental thing: how to live.”
11
Q
What does Seneca say about philosophy?
A
“Philosophy takes as her aim the state of happiness…she shows us what are real and what are only apparent evils. She strips men’s minds of empty thinking, bestows a greatness that is solid and administers a check to greatness where it is puffed up and all an empty show; she sees that we are left no doubt about the difference between what is great and what is bloated.”
12
Q
What does Seneca say about philosophy’s gift to humanity?
A
“Shall I tell you what philosophy holds out to humanity? Counsel… You are called in to help the unhappy.”
13
Q
What does Seneca say about the time commitment of philosophy?
A
“When some state or other offered Alexander a part of its territory and half of all its property he told them that ‘he hadn’t come to Asia with the intention of accepting whatever they cared to give him, but of letting them keep whatever he chose to leave them.’ Philosophy, likewise, tells all other occupations: ‘It’s not my intention to accept whatever time is leftover from you; you shall have, instead, what I reject.’ Give your whole mind to her.”
14
Q
What does Seneca say about a path to salvation?
A
“A consciousness of wrongdoing is the first step to salvation… you have to catch yourself doing it before you can correct it.”
15
Q
What does Seneca say about living simply?
A
“The wise man then followed a simple way of life—which is hardly surprising when you consider how even in this modern age he seeks to be as little encumbered as he possibly can.”
16
Q
What does Seneca say about pleasures and punishments?
A
“So called pleasures, when they go beyond a certain limit, are but punishments.”
17
Q
What does Seneca say about the wise man?
A
“There is nothing the wise man does reluctantly.”
18
Q
What does Seneca say about the path to salvation?
A
“A consciousness of wrongdoing is the first step to salvation… you have to catch yourself doing it before you can correct it.”
19
Q
What does Seneca say about fearing death?
A
“Death: There’s nothing bad about it at all except the thing that comes before it—the fear of it”
20
Q
What does Seneca say about incomplete life?
A
“Life is never incomplete if it is an honorable one. At whatever point you leave life, if you leave it in the right way, it is whole.” “Refuse to let the thought of death bother you: nothing is grim when we have escaped that fear.”
21
Q
What does Seneca say about harshness?
A
“Be harsh with yourself at times.”
22
Q
What does Seneca say about rehearsing death?
A
“Rehearse death. To say this is to tell a person to rehearse his freedom. A person who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave. He is above, or at any rate, beyond the reach of, all political powers.”
23
Q
What does Seneca say about expecting death?
A
“Just where death is expecting you is something we cannot know; so, for your part, expect him everywhere.”
24
Q
What does Seneca say about salvation?
A
“There is about wisdom a nobility and magnificence in the fact that she doesn’t just fall to a person’s lot, that each man owes her to his own efforts, that one doesn’t go to anyone other than oneself to find her.”
25
What does Seneca say about fear of dying?
"You want to live—but do you know how to live? You are scared of dying—and, tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?”
26
What does Seneca say about living in the public view?
“We should live as if we were in public view, and think, too, as if someone could peer into the inmost recesses of our hearts—which someone can!”
27
What does Seneca say about rumination?
“What’s the good of dragging up sufferings which are over, of being unhappy now just because you were then.”
28
What does Seneca say about unhappiness?
“A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself he is.”
29
What does Seneca say about pursuing a straight course?
“How much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant and the things that are honorable finally become, for you, the same.”
30
What does Seneca say about man's ideal state?
“Man’s ideal state is realized when he has fulfilled the purpose for which he is born. And what is it that reason demands of him? Something very easy—that he live in accordance with his own nature.”
31
What does Seneca say about difficulty?
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.”
32
What does Seneca say about living life?
"As it is with a play, so it is with life - what matters is not how long the acting lasts, but how good it is."
33
What does Seneca say about walking alone?
"Retire into yourself as much as possible. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one. People learn as they teach."
34
What does Seneca say about peace of mind?
“The place one’s in, though, doesn’t make any contribution to peace of mind: it’s the spirit that makes everything agreeable to oneself.”
35
What does Marcus Aurelius say about time?
"Your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again."
36
What does Marcus Aurelius say about habitual thoughts?
“Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.”
37
What does Marcus Aurelius say about living each day?
"To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing - here is the perfection of character."
38
What does Marcus Aurelius say about visions of a lifetime?
"Never confuse yourself by visions of an entire lifetime at once... remember that it is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone."
39
What does Marcus Aurelius say about how we appear to others?
“You should banish any thoughts of how you may appear to others.”
40
What does Marcus Aurelius say about a surplus of time?
“Take it that you have died today, and your life’s story is ended; and henceforward regard what future time may be given you as an uncovenanted surplus, and live it out in harmony with nature”
41
What does Marcus Aurelius say about the life we have to lose?
“Were you to live three thousand years, or even thirty thousand, remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses… This means that the longest life and the shortest amount to the same thing. For the passing minute is every man’s equal possession, but what has once gone by is not ours.”
42
What does Marcus Aurelius say about challenges?
“So here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, ‘This is a misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is a good fortune.’”
43
What does Marcus Aurelius say about changing empires?
“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.”
44
What does Marcus Aurelius say about retiring within ourselves?
"Men seek for seclusion in the wilderness, by the seashore, or in the mountains - a dream you have cherished too fondly yourself. But such fancies are wholly unworthy of a philosopher, since at any moment you choose you can retire within yourself. Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat that in his own soul; above all, he possesses resources in himself, which he need only contemplate to secure immediate ease of mind - the ease that is but another word for a well-ordered spirit. Avail yourself often, then, of this retirement and so continually renew yourself."
45
What does Marcus Aurelius say about change?
“Is it possible for any useful thing to be accomplished without change?”
46
What does Marcus Aurelius say about being the possessor of divinity?
“Take me and cast me where you will; I shall still be possessor of the divinity within me, serene and content.”
47
What does Marcus Aurelius say about good qualities to keep?
“Keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, and unassuming; the friend of justice and godliness; kindly, affectionate, and resolute in your devotion to duty.”
48
What does Marcus Aurelius say about seeking truth?
“I seek the truth… it is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance that does harm”
49
What does Marcus Aurelius say about things that are difficult?
“Because a thing is difficult for you, do not therefore suppose it beyond mortal power. On the contrary, if anything is possible and proper for a man to do, assume that it must fall within your own capacity.”
50
What does Marcus Aurelius say about the bond that unites us all?
“Think often of the bond that unites all things in the universe, and their dependence on one another.”
51
What does Marcus Aurelius say about service?
“Let your one delight and refreshment be to pass from one service to the community to another, with God ever in mind.”
52
What does Marcus Aurelius say about doing it right?
“Nothing is worth doing pointlessly.”
53
What does Marcus Aurelius say about fleeing from wickedness?
“How ridiculous not to flee from one’s own wickedness, which is possible, yet endeavor to flee from another’s which is not.”
54
What does Marcus Aurelius say about duty?
“Everything – a horse, a vine – is created for some duty… For what task, then, were you yourself created? A man’s true delight is to do the things he was made for.”
55
What does Marcus Aurelius say about the equanimity game?
“When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.”
56
What does Marcus Aurelius say about the river of time?
“Time is a river, the resistless flow of all created things. One thing no sooner comes in sight than it is hurried past and another is borne along, only to be swept away in its turn.”
57
What does Marcus Aurelius say about coming into existence?
“Even while a thing is in the act of coming into existence, some part of it has already ceased to be.”
58
What does Marcus Aurelius say about all things?
“Reflect often upon the rapidity with which all existing things, or things coming into existence, sweep past us and are carried away.”
59
What does Marcus Aurelius say about life itself?
“The whole universe is change, and life itself is but what you deem it.”
60
What does Marcus Aurelius say about the opinions of others?
“The approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.”
61
What does Marcus Aurelius say about the qualities within our power?
"Cultivate these, then, for they are wholly within your power: sincerity and dignity; industriousness, and sobriety. Avoid grumbling, be frugal, considerate, and frank; be temperate in manner and speech; carry yourself with authority."
62
What does Marcus Aurelius say about anger?
"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it."
63
What does Marcus Aurelius say about what can be taken from a man?
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
64
What does Marcus Aurelius say about your power?
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
65
What does Marcus Aurelius say about things that happen?
"O world, I am in tune with every note of thy great harmony. For me nothing is early, nothing late, if it be timely for thee. O Nature, all that thy seasons yield is fruit for me."
66
What does Rumi say about irritation?
"If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?"
67
What does Rumi say about security?
"You can believe so much in you and your internal strength that things or others will be seen as mere pleasant but superfluous adjuncts to your life"
68
What does Rumi say about self-control?
“Let’s ask God to help us to self-control for one who lacks it, lacks his grace.”
69
What does Rumi say about God?
“He is a letter to everyone. You open it. It says, ‘Live!’”
70
What does Rumi say about candy?
“The intelligent want self-control; children want candy.”
71
What does Rumi say about growth?
```
"No mirror ever became iron again;
No bread ever became wheat;
No ripened grape ever became sour fruit.
Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse.
Become the light.”
```
72
What does Rumi say about patience?
“Patience is the key to joy.”
73
What does Rumi say about boiling scum?
“This discipline and rough treatment are a furnace to extract the silver from the dross. This testing purifies the gold by boiling the scum away”
74
What does Rumi say about challenges?
“It is God’s kindness to terrify you in order to lead you to safety.”
75
What does Rumi say about burdens?
“Burdens are the foundations of ease and bitter things the forerunners of pleasure”
76
What does Rumi say about envy?
“On the way there is no harder pass than this: fortunate is he who does not carry envy as a companion”
77
What does Rumi say about the defect of envy?
“Indeed envy is a defect; worse than any other.”
78
What does Rumi say about perfection?
“There is no worse sickness for the soul, o you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection”
79
What does Rumi say about burning?
“I am burning. If anyone lacks tinder, let him set his rubbish ablaze with my fire.”
80
What does Rumi say about lodging in if?
“One cannot lodge in ‘if.’”
81
What does Rumi say about the sword of reality?
“The sword of reality is the saint’s protection.”
82
What does Rumi say about two wings to fly?
“God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.”
83
What does Rumi say about conventional opinion?
“Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls.”
84
What does Rumi say about sparing effort?
“Travelers, it is late. Life’s sun is going to set. During these brief days that you have strength, be quick and spare no effort of your wings.”
85
What does Rumi say about stepping into the fire?
“If your knowledge of fire has been turned to certainty by words alone, then seek to be cooked by the fire itself. Don’t abide in borrowed certainty. There is no real certainty until you burn; if you wish for this, sit down in the fire.””
86
What does Rumi say about today?
“My friend, the sufi is the friend of the present moment. To say ‘tomorrow’ is not our way.”
87
What does Rumi say about the lion?
"The lion who breaks the enemy's ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself"
88
What does Rumi say about walking alone?
"Stay with friends who support you in these. Talk with them about the sacred texts, and how you are doing, and how they are doing, and keep your practices together."
89
What does Martin Seligman say about the central skill of optimism?
"Learned optimism is not a rediscovery of the 'power of positive thinking.' Changing the destructive things you say to yourself when you experience the setbacks life deals all of us is the central skill of optimism."
90
What does Martin Seligman say about learned helplessness?
"Learned helplessness is the giving up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter. Explanatory style is the manner in which you habitually explain to yourself why events happen. It is the great modulator of learned helplessness. An optimistic explanatory style stops helplessness, whereas a pessimistic explanatory style spreads helplessness."
91
What does Martin Seligman say about the dimensions to your explanatory style?
"There are three crucial dimensions to your explanatory style: permanence, pervasiveness, and personalization."Permanence: Is it likely to continue? It is permanent or temporary?Pervasiveness: Is it reflective of your whole life? Is it "universal" or is it "specific"?Personalization: Internal or external?
92
What does Martin Seligman say about success?
“Success requires persistence, the ability to not give up in the face of failure. I believe that optimistic explanatory style is the key to persistence.”
93
What does Martin Seligman say about life?
"Life inflicts the same setbacks and tragedies on the optimist as on the pessimist, but the optimist weathers them better."
94
What does Martin Seligman say about learned optimism?
"Unlike dieting, learned optimism is easy to maintain once you start. Once you get into the habit of disputing negative beliefs, your daily life will run much better, and you will feel much happier."
95
What does Martin Seligman say about committing to something bigger than yourself?
"The life committed to nothing larger than itself is a meager life indeed. Human beings require a context of meaning and of hope."
96
What does Martin Seligman say about habits of thinking?
“Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals can choose the way they think.”
97
What does Martin Seligman say about pessimists?
“Pessimists can in fact learn to be optimists, and not through the mindless devices like whistling a happy tune of mouthing platitudes (‘Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better’), but by learning a new set of cognitive skills.”
98
What does Martin Seligman say about universal explanations?
“People who make permanent and universal explanations for their troubles tend to collapse under pressure, both for a long time and across situations.”
99
What does Martin Seligman say about cognitive therapy?
“On a mechanical level, cognitive therapy works because it changes explanatory style from pessimistic to optimistic, and the change is permanent. It gives you a set of cognitive skills for talking to yourself when you fail.”
100
What does Martin Seligman say about automatic interpretations?
“Practice disputing your automatic interpretations all the time from now on.”
101
What does Martin Seligman say about choosing people for success?
“The explanatory-style theory of success says that in order to choose people for success in a challenging job, you need to select for three characteristics:
aptitude
motivation
optimism”
102
What does Martin Seligman say about optimism and recruiting?
“Optimism tells you who to select and recruit. If two prospects are close in raw talent, recruit the optimist. He’ll do better in the long run.”
103
What does Confucius say about those who approve?
“For those who approve but do not carry out, who are stirred, but do not change, I can do nothing at all.”
104
What does Confucius say about evil in your thoughts?
“The Master said, If out of the three hundred songs I had to take one phrase to cover all my teachings, I would say ‘Let there be no evil in your thoughts.’”
105
What does Confucius say about the door?
“The Master said, Who expects to be able to go out of a house except by the door? How is it then that no one follows this Way of ours?”
106
What does Confucius say about reanimating the old?
“He who by reanimating the Old can gain knowledge of the New is fit to be a teacher.”
107
What does Confucius say about recognizing merits?
“The Master said, (the good man) does not grieve that other people do not recognize his merits. His only anxiety is lest he should fail to recognize theirs.”
108
What does Confucius say about discovering what is right?
“The Master said, A gentleman takes as much trouble to discover what is right as lesser men take to discover what will pay.”
109
What does Confucius say about rising above?
“The Master said, To men who have risen at all above the middling sort, one may talk of things higher yet. But to men who are at all below the middling sort it is useless to talk of things that are above them.”
110
What does Confucius say about learning?
“Learn as if you were following someone whom you could not catch up, as though it were someone you were frightened of losing.”
111
What does Confucius say about eagerness?
“The Master said, Only one who bursts with eagerness do I instruct; only one who bubbles with excitement, do I enlighten. If I hold up one corner and a man cannot come back to me with the other three, I do not continue the lesson.”
112
What does Confucius say about fifty years?
“The Master said, Give me a few more years, so that I may have spent a whole fifty in study, and I believe that after all I should be fairly free from error.”
113
What does Confucius say about goodness?
“Is goodness indeed so far away? If we really wanted Goodness, we should find that it was at our very side.”
114
What does Confucius say about the time it takes to learn?
“The Master said, At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I had planted my feet firm upon the ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of Heaven. At sixty, I heard them with a docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right.”
115
What does Confucius say about learning without reward?
“One who will study for three years without thought of reward would be hard indeed to find”
116
What does Confucius say about making progress?
“As in the case of making a mound, if, before the very last basketful, I stop, then I shall have stopped. As in the case of leveling the ground, if, though tipping only one basketful, I am going forward, then I shall be making progress”
117
What does Confucius say about preaching?
"He does not preach what he practises till he has practised what he preaches."
118
What does Confucius say about recognition?
"He does not mind being in office; all he minds about is whether he has qualities that entitle him to office. He does not mind failing to get recognition; he is too busy doing the things that entitle him to recognition"
119
What does Confucius say about learning?
"In the presence of a good man, think all the time how you may learn to equal him. In the presence of a bad man, turn your gaze within!""Even when walking in a party of no more than three I can always be certain of learning from those I am with. There will be good qualities that I can select for imitation and bad ones that will teach me what requires correction in myself."
120
What does Confucius say about faults?
"In vain I have looked for a single man capable of seeing his own faults and bringing the charge home against himself."
121
What does Confucius say about your commanding officer?
“The Three Armies can be deprived of their commanding officer, but even a common man cannot be deprived of his purpose.”
122
What does Confucius say about the way of the master?
“There is one single thread binding my way together… the way of the Master consists in doing one’s best… that is all.”
123
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about dharma?
"It is better to strive in one's own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one's own dharma. But competition in another's dharma breeds fear and insecurity."
124
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about duties?
"It is better to perform one's own duties imperfectly than to master the duties of another. By fulfilling the obligations he is born with, a person never comes to grief. No one should abandon duties because he sees defects in them. Every action, every activity, is surrounded by defects as a fire is surrounded by smoke."
125
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about seeing truly?
"He alone sees truly who sees the Lord the same in every creature... seeing the same Lord everywhere, he does not harm himself or others."
126
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about the power of our will?
"Reshape yourself through the power of your will. Those who have conquered themselves live in peace, alike in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, praise and blame. To such people a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same. Because they are impartial, they rise to great heights."
127
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about the awakened sages?
"The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results."
128
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about failure?
"On his path effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure. Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear."
129
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about the qualities we should exhibit?
“Be fearless and pure; never waver in your determination or your dedication to the spiritual life. Give freely. Be self-controlled, sincere, truthful, loving, and full of the desire to serve… Learn to be detached and to take joy in renunciation. Do not get angry or harm any living creature, but be compassionate and gentle; show good will to all. Cultivate vigor, patience, will, purity; avoid malice and pride. Then, you will achieve your destiny.”
130
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about attaining perfection?
“By devotion to one’s own particular duty, everyone can attain perfection.”
131
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about the disciplines of the mind?
“Calmness, gentleness, silence, self-restraint, and purity: these are the disciplines of the mind.”
132
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about giving?
“Giving simply because it is right to give, without thought of return, at a proper time, in proper circumstances, and to a worthy person, is sattvic giving.”
133
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about the qualities we should not exhibit?
“The demonic do things they should avoid and avoid the things they should do… Hypocritical, proud, and arrogant, living in delusion and clinging to their deluded ideas, insatiable in their desires, they pursue unclean ends… Bound on all sides by scheming and anxiety, driven by anger and greed, they amass by any means they can a hoard of money for the satisfaction of their cravings… Self-important, obstinate, swept away by the pride of wealth, they ostentatiously perform sacrifices without any regard for their purpose. Egotistical, violent, arrogant, lustful, angry, envious of everyone, they abuse my presence within their own bodies and in the bodies of others.”
134
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about results and non-attachment?
“Abandon all attachments to the results of action and attain supreme peace.”
135
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about temperance?
“Those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation.”
136
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about meditation?
“When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering, like the flame of a lamp in a windless place.”
137
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about working for your own profit?
“The ignorant work for their own profit... the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves... Perform all work carefully, guided by compassion.”
138
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about your thoughts?
“Strive to still your thoughts. Make your mind one-pointed in meditation.”
139
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about faith?
“When a person is devoted to something with complete faith, I unify his faith in that. Then, when his faith is completely unified, he gains the object of his devotion.”
140
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about selfless service?
“Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life. Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind.”
141
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about enthusiasm?
"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.""Every great and commanding movement in the annals of the world is due to the triumph of enthusiasm."
142
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about trust?
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort, and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.”
143
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about a foolish consistency?
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall…"
144
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about being understood?
“Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today. – ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’—Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
145
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about living truly?
“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
146
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about unique faculties?
“Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other, and thus makes him necessary to society.”
147
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about being Godlike?
"And truly it demands something godlike in him who cast off the common motives of humanity and ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster"
148
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about leading?
"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
149
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about cowards and God?
"God will not have his work made manifest by cowards."
150
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about fear?
"Always, always, always, always, always do what you are afraid to do."
151
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about thoughts?
"Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they be executed!"
152
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about good luck?
"Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.""There is only one way in which you can 'change your luck' and that is by altering your thoughts."
153
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about beautiful compensations?
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."
154
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about reaping a destiny?
"Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny."
155
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about nature's compensation?
"Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists the means, the fruit in the seed"
156
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about envy and imitation?
"Envy is ignorance. Imitation is suicide."
157
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about the purpose of life?
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well… To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
158
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about confidence?
“If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.”
159
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about non-conformity?
“For non-conformity the world whips you with its displeasure.”
160
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about conforming?
“A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist.”
161
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about the death of fear?
“Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”
162
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about fear as an instructor?
“Fear is an instructor of great sagacity and the herald of revolutions. One thing he teaches, that there is rottenness where he appears.”
163
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about what man thinks?
“Man is not what he thinks he is, but what he thinks he is!”
164
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about the soul?
“The soul refuses limits & always affirms an optimism, never a pessimism.”
165
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about friendship?
“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.”
166
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about excess?
“There can be no excess to love, none to knowledge, none to beauty.”
167
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about how nature is not capricious?
“There’s nothing capricious in nature, and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feels it.”
168
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about our desires?
“Our desires presage the capacities within us; they are harbingers of what we shall be able to accomplish. What we can do and want to do is projected in our imagination, quite outside ourselves, and into the future. We are attracted to what is already ours in secret. Thus passionate anticipation transforms what is indeed possible into dreamt-for reality.”
169
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about our purpose?
“Do that which is assigned to you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.”
170
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about the synonym for God?
“Love is our highest word and the synonym for God.”
171
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about good or bad?
“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this. The only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong what is against it.”
172
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about zigzags?
“The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks. See the line from a sufficient distance, and it straightens itself to the average tendency.”
173
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about genius?
“Genius appeals to the future.”
174
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about seeing possibility?
“A feeble man can see the farms that are fenced and tilled, the houses that are built. The strong man sees the possible houses and farms. His eye makes estates as fast as the sun breeds clouds.”
175
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about believing your own thought?
“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius.”
176
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about what the years teach us?
“The years teach us much the days never knew.”
177
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about what we must do?
“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.”
178
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about actions speaking louder than words?
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
179
What does Ralph Waldo Emerson say about nature and geniuses?
“When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.”
180
What does The Dhammapada say about the earnest?
“Earnest among those who are indolent, awake among those who slumber, the wise advance like a race horse, leaving others behind... The earnest are always respected, the indolent never.”
181
What does The Dhammapada say about pleasure and pain?
“Go beyond both pleasure and pain.”
182
What does The Dhammapada say about life?
"Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think"
183
What does The Dhammapada say about the armies in our mind?
"More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm."
184
What does The Dhammapada say about how we smell?
"Like a lovely flower full of color but lacking in fragrance, are the words of those who do not practice what they teach."
185
What does The Dhammapada say about walking alone?
"If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature."
186
What does The Dhammapada say about being solid as a rock?
"As a solid rock cannot be moved by the wind, the wise are not shaken by praise or blame."
187
What does The Dhammapada say about self-mastery?
"One who conquers himself is greater than another who conquers a thousand times a thousand men on the battlefield."
188
What does The Dhammapada say about little by little?
"Little by little a person becomes evil, as a water pot is filled by drops of water... Little by little a person becomes good, as a water pot is filled by drops of water."
189
What does The Dhammapada say about purity?
"Make your mind pure as a silversmith blows away impurities of silver, little by little, instant by instant."
190
What does The Dhammapada say about doing it?
"If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart"
191
What does The Dhammapada say about steady thoughts?
“They are not wise whose thoughts are not steady and minds not serene, who do not know dharma, the law of life. They are wise whose thoughts are steady and minds serene, unaffected by good and bad. They are awake and free from fear.”
192
What does The Dhammapada say about the wise?
“The wise are disciplined in body, speech, and mind. They are well controlled indeed.”
193
What does The Dhammapada say about meditation?
“If you forget the joy of life and get caught in the pleasures of the world, you will come to envy those who put meditation first”
194
What does The Dhammapada say about change?
“All is change in the world, but the disciples of the Buddha are never shaken.”
195
What does The Dhammapada say about talking about dharma?
“Dharma is not upheld by talking about it. Dharma is upheld by living in harmony with it.”
196
What does The Dhammapada say about what others fail to do?
“Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.”
197
What does The Dhammapada say about the immature?
“Avoid the company of the immature if you want joy.”
198
What does The Dhammapada say about the innocent?
“If you have no wound on your hand you can touch poison without being harmed. No harm comes to him who does not harm. If you harm a pure and innocent person, you harm yourself, as dust thrown against the wind comes back to the thrower.”
199
What does The Dhammapada say about irrigators?
“As irrigators lead water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their minds.”
200
What does The Dhammapada say about fear?
“Driven by fear, people run for security to mountains and forests, to sacred spots and shrines. But none of these can be a safe refuge, because they cannot free the mind from fear.”
201
What does The Dhammapada say about living in darkness?
“When you are living in darkness, why don’t you look for light?”
202
What does The Dhammapada say about the lamp within?
“Light the lamp within; strive hard to attain wisdom.”
203
What does The Dhammapada say about ignorance?
“There is no impurity greater than ignorance”
204
What does The Dhammapada say about our faults?
“It is easy to see the faults of others… it is hard to see our own.”
205
What does The Dhammapada say about indiscipline?
“Any indiscipline brings evil in its wake”
206
What does The Dhammapada say about purifying another?
“Do not do evil, and suffering will not come. Everyone has the choice to be pure or impure. No one can purify another.”
207
What does The Dhammapada say about wasted moments?
“Don’t waste a moment, for wasted moments send you on the downward course.”
208
What does The Dhammapada say about waking up?
“Now is the time to wake up, when you are young and strong.”
209
What does Epictetus say about our opinion?
"Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things: for example, death is nothing terrible, for if it were, it would have seemed so to Socrates; for the opinion about death, that it is terrible, is the terrible thing. When then we are impeded or disturbed or grieved, let us never blame others, but ourselves, that is, our opinions. It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself."
210
What does Epictetus say about irritation?
"Remember that it is not he who reviles you or strikes you, who insults you, but it is your opinion about these things as being insulting. When then a man irritates you, you must know that it is your own opinion which has irritated you. Therefore especially try not to be carried away by the appearance. For if you once gain time and delay, you will easily master yourself."
211
What does Epictetus say about things that happen?
"Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life."
212
What does Epictetus say about patience?
“No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
213
What does Epictetus say about reporting our faults?
"If a man has reported you, that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only."
214
What does Epictetus say about preaching?
“On no occasion call yourself a philosopher, and do not speak much among the uninstructed about theorems (philosophical rules, precepts): but do that which follows from them. For example at a banquet do not say how a man ought to eat, but eat as you ought to eat. For remember that in this way Socrates also altogether avoided ostentation: persons used to come to him and ask to be recommended by him to philosophers, and he used to take them to philosophers: so easily did he submit to being overlooked. Accordingly if any conversation should arise among uninstructed persons about any theorem, generally be silent; for there is great danger that you will immediately vomit up what you have not digested. And when a man shall say to you, that you know nothing, and you are not vexed, then be sure that you have begun the work (of philosophy). For even sheep do not vomit up their grass and show to the shepherds how much they have eaten; but when they have internally digested the pasture, they produce externally wool and milk. Do you also show not your theorems to the uninstructed, but show the acts which come from their digestion.”
215
What does Epictetus say about the desire for philosophy?
“If you desire philosophy, prepare yourself from the beginning to be ridiculed, to expect that many will sneer at you, and say, He has all at once returned to us as a philosopher… And remember that if you abide in the same principles, these men who first ridiculed will afterward admire you: but if you shall have been overpowered by them, you will bring on yourself double ridicule.”
216
What does Epictetus say about our power?
“Of things some are in our power, and others are not… examine it by the rules which you possess, and by this first and chiefly, whether it relates to the things which are in our power or to the things which are not in our power: and if it relates to anything which is not in our power, be ready to say, that it does not concern you.”
217
What does Epictetus say about our self-image?
“Immediately prescribe some character and some form to yourself, which you shall observe both when you are alone and when you meet with men.”
218
What does Epictetus say about the uninstructed?
“The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never expects from himself profit (advantage) nor harm, but from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this: he expects all advantage and all harm from himself.”
219
What does Epictetus say about doing something right?
“When you have decided that a thing ought to be done and are doing it, never avoid being seen doing it, though the many shall form an unfavorable opinion about it. For if it is not right to do it, avoid doing the thing; but if it is right, why are you afraid of those who shall find fault wrongly?”
220
What does Epictetus say about acting the part?
“Remember that thou art an actor in a play of such a kind as the teacher (author) may choose; if short, of a short one; if long, of a long one: if he wishes you to act the part of a poor man, see that you act the part naturally; if the part of a lame man, of a magistrate, of a private person, (do the same). For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part, belongs to another.”
221
What does Epictetus say about incoherent reasons?
“These reasons do not cohere: I am richer than you, therefore I am better than you; I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better than you. On the contrary these rather cohere, I am richer than you, therefore my possessions are greater than yours: I am more eloquent than you, therefore my speech is superior to yours. But you are neither possession nor speech.”
222
What does Epictetus say about the nature of evil?
“As a mark is not set up for the purpose of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world.”
223
What does Epictetus say about purpose in life?
“If it should ever happen to you to be turned to externals in order to please some person, you must know that you have lost your purpose in life.”
224
What does Epictetus say about what we should wish?
“But what is it that I wish? To understand Nature and to follow it.”
225
What does Epictetus say about equanimity?
“We may learn the wish (will) of nature from the things in which we do not differ from one another; for instance, when your neighbor’s slave has broken his cup, or anything else, we are ready to say forthwith, that it [is] one of the things which happen. You must know then that when your cup also is broken, you ought to think as you did when your neighbor’s cup was broken. Transfer this reflection to greater things also. Is another man’s child or wife dead? There is no one who would not say, this is an event incident to man. But when a man’s own child or wife is dead, forthwith he calls out, Wo to me, how wretched I am. But we ought to remember how we feel when we hear that it has happened to others”
226
What does Epictetus say about who’s in your head?
“If any person was intending to put your body in the power of any man whom you fell in with on the way, you would be vexed: but that you put your understanding in the power of any man whom you meet, so that if he should revile you, it is disturbed and troubled, are you not ashamed at this?”
227
What does Lao Tzu say about making use of solitude?
"Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe."
228
What does Lao Tzu say about the journey?
“Prevent trouble before it arises. Put things in order before they exist. The giant pine tree grows from a tiny sprout. The journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath your feet.”
229
What does Lao Tzu say about starting small?
"Confront the difficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts."
230
What does Lao Tzu say about playfully creating?
"The best athlete wants his opponent at his best. The best general enters the mind of his enemy. The best businessman serves the communal good. The best leader follows the will of the people. All of them embody the virtue of non-competition. Not that they don't love to compete, but they do it in the spirit of play. In this they are like children and in harmony with the Tao."
231
What does Lao Tzu say about the shadow he himself casts?
"A great nation is like a great man: When he makes a mistake, he realizes it. Having realized it, he admits it. Having admitted it, he corrects it. He considers those who point out his faults as his most benevolent teachers. He thinks of his enemy as the shadow that he himself casts."
232
What does Lao Tzu say about money and happiness?
"Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness: which is more valuable? Success or failure: which is more destructive? If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
233
What does Lao Tzu say about change?
"If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to."
234
What does Lao Tzu say about our greatest treasures?
“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.”
235
What does Lao Tzu say about true power?
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”
236
What does Lao Tzu say about the soft and supple?
“Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.”
237
What does Lao Tzu say about holding nothing back?
“The Master gives himself up to whatever the moment brings. He knows that he is going to die, and he has nothing left to hold on to: no illusions in his mind, no resistances in his body. He doesn’t think about his actions; they flow from the core of his being. He holds nothing back from life; therefore he is ready for death, as a man is ready for sleep after a good day’s work.”
238
What does Lao Tzu say about controlling the future?
“Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter’s place. When you handle the master carpenter’s tools, chances are that you’ll cut yourself.”
239
What does Lao Tzu say about the way?
“When superior people hear of the Way, they carry it out with diligence. When middling people hear of the Way, it sometimes seems to be there, sometimes not. When lesser people hear of the Way, they ridicule it greatly. If they didn’t laugh at it, it wouldn’t be the Way.”
240
What does Nietzsche say about wolf and man?
"They have turned the wolf into a dog and man himself into man's best-domesticated animal"
241
What does Nietzsche say about the seed of hope?
"The time has come for man to set himself a goal. The time has come for man to plant the seed of his highest hope."
242
What does Nietzsche say about chaos and dancing stars?
"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star."
243
What does Nietzsche say about who he must be?
"Call me whatever you like; I am who I must be."
244
What does Nietzsche say about virtues and mistakes?
"They punish you for all your virtues. They forgive you entirely - your mistakes."
245
What does Nietzsche say about your will?
"Will - that is the name of the liberator and the joy bringer."
246
What does Nietzsche say about flying and looking up?
"The higher you ascend, the smaller you appear to the eye of envy. But most of all they hate those who fly."
247
What does Nietzsche say about your worst enemy?
"But the worst enemy you can encounter will always be you, yourself; you lie in wait for yourself in caves and woods."
248
What does Nietzsche say about your own flame?
"You must wish to consume yourself in your own flame: how could you wish to become new unless you had first become ashes?"
249
What does Nietzsche say about lies?
"Whoever does not believe himself always lies."
250
What does Nietzsche say about what hardens?
"He who has always spared himself much will in the end become sickly of so much consideration. Praised be what hardens!"
251
What does Nietzsche say about depth and height?
"Whence come the highest mountains? I once asked. Then I learned that they came out of the sea. The evidence is written in their rock and in the walls of their peaks. It is out of the deepest depth that the highest must come to its height."
252
What does Nietzsche say about mediocrity and moderation?
"That, however, is mediocrity, though it be called moderation."
253
What does Nietzsche say about loving thy farthest?
"Higher than love of thy neighbor is love of the farthest and the future... My brothers, love of the neighbor I do not recommend you: I recommend to you love of the farthest."
254
What does Nietzsche say about beyond good and evil?
"He, however, has discovered himself who says, 'This is my good and evil'; with that he has reduced to silence the mole and dwarf who say, 'Good for all, evil for all.'"
255
What does Nietzsche say about my way vs the way?
"'This is my way; where is yours?' - Thus I answered those who asked me 'the way.' For the way - that does not exist."
256
What does Nietzsche say about giving joy?
"This is the manner of noble souls: they do not want to have anything for nothing; least of all, life. Whoever is of the mob wants to live for nothing; we others, however, to whom life gave itself, we always think about what we might best give in return... One should not wish to enjoy where done does not give joy."
257
What does Nietzsche say about the hero in your soul?
“But by my love and hope I beseech you: do not throw away the hero in your soul! Hold holy your highest hope!”
258
What does Nietzsche say about who you are?
“Become who you are!”
259
What does Nietzsche say about god?
“But when Zarathustra was alone he spoke thus to his heart: ‘Could it be possible? This old saint in the forest had not yet heard anything of this, that God is dead!”
260
What does Nietzsche say about perfection?
“I must perfect myself.”
261
What does Nietzsche say about command?
“"He who cannot command himself should obey. And many can command themselves, but much is still lacking before they can obey themselves.”
262
What does Nietzsche say about a brighter flame?
“I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself.”
263
What does Nietzsche say about a creator?
“Whoever must be a creator in good and evil, verily, he must first be an annihilator and break values.”
264
What does Nietzsche say about love of oneself?
“But whoever would become light and a bird must love himself: thus I teach... One must learn to love oneself with a wholesome and healthy love, so that one can bear to be with oneself and need not roam.”
265
What does Nietzsche say about warriors of the mind?
“Break, break, you lovers of knowledge, the old tablets!”
266
What does Cal Newport say about working right?
"Working right trumps finding the right work."
267
What does Cal Newport say about the craftsman vs passion mindset?
"I've presented two different ways people think about their working life. The first is the craftsman mindset, which focuses on what you can offer the world. The second is the passion mindset, which instead focuses on what the world can offer you. The craftsman mindset offers clarity, while the passion mindset offers a swamp of ambiguous and unanswerable questions... there's something liberating about the craftsman mindset: It asks you to leave behind self-centered concerns about whether your job is 'just right,' and instead put your head down and plug away at getting really damn good. No one owes you a great career, it argues; you need to earn it - and the process won't be easy."
268
What does Cal Newport say about deliberate practice?
“When I first encountered the work of Ericsson and Charness, this insight startled me. It told me that in most types of work—that is, work that doesn’t have a clear training philosophy—most people are stuck. This generates an exciting implication. Let’s assume you’re a knowledge worker, which is a field without a clear training philosophy. If you can figure out how to integrate deliberate practice into your own life, you have the possibility of blowing past your peers in your value, as you’ll likely be alone in your dedication to systematically getting better. That is, deliberate practice might provide the key to quickly becoming so good they can’t ignore you.
To successfully adopt the craftsman mindset, therefore, we have to approach our jobs… with a dedication to deliberate practice.“
269
What does Cal Newport say about career capital?
"The traits that define great work are rare and valuable. Supply and demand says that if you want these traits you need rare and valuable skills to offer in return. Think of these rare and valuable skills you can offer as your career capital. The craftsman mindset, with its relentless focus on becoming 'so good they can't ignore you,' is a strategy well suited for acquiring career capital. This is why it trumps the passion mindset if your goal is to create work you love."
270
What does Cal Newport say about right work vs working right?
"I argued in Rule #1 that 'follow your passion' is bad advice, as the vast majority of people don't have preexisting passions waiting to be discovered and matched to a job. In Rule #2, I then countered that people with compelling careers instead start by getting good at something rare and valuable - building what I call 'career capital' - and then cashing in this capital for the traits that make great work great. In this understanding, finding the right work pales in importance to working right."
271
What does Cal Newport say about a working life well lived?
“This argument flips conventional wisdom. It relegates passion to the sidelines, claiming that this feeling is an epiphenomenon of a working life well lived. Don’t follow your passion; rather let it follow you in your quest to become, in the words of my favorite Steve Martin quote, ‘so good that they can’t ignore you.’ … It’s my hope that the insights that follow will free you from simplistic catchphrases like ‘follow your passion’ and ‘do what you love’—the type of catchphrases that have helped spawn the career confusion that afflicts so many today—and instead, provide you with a realistic path toward a meaningful and engaging working life.”
272
What does Cal Newport say about the first rule?
“Don’t Follow Your Passion”
273
What does Cal Newport say about the second rule?
“Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Or, the Importance of Skill)”
274
What does Cal Newport say about the third rule?
“Turn Down a Promotion (Or, the Importance of Control)”
275
What does Cal Newport say about the fourth rule?
“Think Small, Act Big (Or, the Importance of Mission)”
276
What does Cal Newport say about the first factor of self-determination theory?
“Autonomy: the feeling that you have control over your day, and that your actions are important”
277
What does Cal Newport say about the second factor of self-determination theory?
“Competence: the feeling that you are good at what you do”
278
What does Cal Newport say about the third factor of self-determination theory?
“Relatedness: the feeling of connection to other people”
279
What does Cal Newport say about a compelling career?
“Regardless of how you feel about your job right now, adopting the craftsman mindset will be the foundation on which you’ll build a compelling career.”
280
What does Cal Newport say about loving what you do?
“If you want to love what you do, abandon the passion mindset (‘what can the world offer me?’) and instead adopt the craftsman mindset (‘what can I offer the world?’)”
281
What does Cal Newport say about the hour tally?
“Another deliberate-practice routine was the introduction of my hour tally... The sheet has a row for each month on which I keep a tally of the total number of hours I’ve spent that month in a state of deliberate practice”
282
What does Cal Newport say about strain?
“Strain, I now accepted, was good. Instead of seeing this discomfort as a sensation to avoid, I began to understand it the same way that a body builder understands muscle burn: a sign that you’re doing something right.”
283
What does Cal Newport say about the law of financial viability?
“The Law of Financial Viability: When deciding whether to follow an appealing pursuit that will introduce more control into your work life, seek evidence of whether people are willing to pay for it. If you find this evidence, continue. If not, move on.”
284
What does Mark Divine say about courage?
"In order to be courageous, you must do courageous things."
285
What does Mark Divine say about the wolves within?
“You may know that the analogy of the fear wolf comes from a Native American tale of a negative wolf that resides in the minds of humans. This wolf operates from fear, is hungry for drama, catastrophizes, and has incessant negative self-talk.
But there is also a second, positive wolf residing in the heart. This one has an appetite for love and connection, is not addicted to drama, and is optimistic and focused on others.
The fear wolf fights for your attention and demands dominance. The courage wolf asks simply to be noticed, seeking some esteem-building food. According to the legend, the one that ultimately controls you is the one you feed the most.
If you constantly feed fear by thinking about the could-haves, the should-haves, the would-haves, and the can’ts in life—if you allow negative beliefs, attitudes, and conditioned behavior from whatever drama you experienced or stories you adopted—then the fear wolf gets stronger. Eventually he gets so strong that the courage wolf is left cowering, unable to fight back.
However, you can stare that fear wolf down and refuse to feed it any longer. Starve it of that negative conditioning! Then you can feed the courage wolf a steady diet of good food, and lead with your heart and mind as equal partners.”
286
What does Mark Divine say about becoming?
"Be aware that your ego will try to trick you to think you have 'made it'. It's good to remember, as Gertrude Stein put it, that there's no there there - you are always in the process of becoming."
287
What does Mark Divine say about the 7 commitments?
“Fear holds us back. You can step into your moral and physical courage by taking on the first commitment. Stare down fear and simultaneously fuel courage. This will propel you naturally to take on the other six commitments. Courage develops from taking a stand and risking bold action. In fact, each of the seven commitments is a call to action. Each builds upon the other.
Without courage, you won’t trust. If you don’t trust, you won’t get respect and won’t respect others. If you don’t respect yourself and others, then you won’t grow. If you’re not growing, then you won’t express excellence. If you don’t commit to excellence, then you won’t be very resilient. Finally, if you’re not resilient, then your team will have difficulty aligning with your vision or mission.
Staring down the wolf requires daily work to evolve your body, mind, and spirit. Embrace the suck of that work, get comfortable with discomfort, and learn to appreciate the accelerated growth that will come from it.“
288
What does Mark Divine say about staring down the wolf?
"Staring down the wolf requires daily work to evolve your body, mind, and spirit. Embrace the suck of that work, get comfortable with discomfort, and learn to appreciate the accelerated growth that will come from it."
289
What does Mark Divine say about developing courage?
"Courage develops from taking a stand and risking bold action."
290
What does Mark Divine say about commitment?
"Develop the muscle of committing only to the most important actions, and then follow through relentlessly."
291
What does Mark Divine say about embracing challenges?
"Embracing meaningful challenges joyfully - showing up and working hard to become the very best version of yourself through the suffering - is key. That means getting out of your comfort zone, embracing discomfort, and breaking the status quo that locks you in."
292
What does Mark Divine say about excellence?
"Excellence is always, always striving for the next big thing - always growing and exploring."
293
What does Mark Divine say about top leaders?
"Top leaders don't hoard their leadership authority. Without abdicating accountability, they will share responsibility for leading others so others can gain experience and build trust."
294
What does Mark Divine say about adaptability?
“Zen master Nakamura scribbled on the chalkboard, the screeching sound setting my teeth on edge. The words were written in Japanese kanji characters. Beneath these, he translated for us before we could ask: ‘Fall down seven times, get up eight.’ He then gave a beautiful account of the meaning in his broken English. What he conveyed was way more nuanced than the words alone implied. The main point he was making was not just that you should get up after falling down, but that what counts is how you get up.
How often have you ‘fallen down’ in life and reacted poorly, or risen with timidity, not adapting quickly to the new reality? …
Reacting negatively to failure leads to more destabilization, worsening an already bad situation. Sometimes it takes years before you can look back and say you’re glad it happened, that you see now how it made you stronger and wiser.
That’s okay, but it’s not how the resilient respond. The resilient stare down their fear of falling off an obstacle and train to get back up right away with a positive response. Like [Marcus] Luttrell, they look for opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade. Fall down seven times, get up eight—stronger, better, and more capable, having learned everything possible from the situation.
That’s adaptability.”
295
What does Mark Divine say about the question we should consider?
“It seems my entire life—all the hardships, the challenges, the screw-ups; even my own family dynamics—had been perfectly architected to prepare me for this important work. Do you have a sense that things in your life, even the shitty things, happen for a reason? Can you see a directionality in your life? Do you feel that perhaps if you got out of your own way, you would flourish? I do . . . and have learned to listen to my inner voice as a result. It has always served me well.
We all desire to be more authentic leaders and to fulfill our mission alongside an elite team in the face of relentless VUCA. But fear and our shadows will hold us back, even if we’re unaware of those fears and shadows. Nobody is perfect; everybody brings some baggage into their leadership. The question I want you to consider now is: What fear do you need to stare down first?
Can you commit to stare it down and further unlock your potential? I am confident you can.”
296
What does Mark Divine say about his journey?
“If my journey sounds tortuous and winding, it’s because it was. But my hope is that after you employ the tools in this book, you won’t have to become a SEAL and do twenty-five years of meditation and twenty years of therapy before finding your own authenticity. You will get there much faster, building elite teams and leading from the fifth plateau with freedom. You will also become a heart-centered, world-centric leader by getting serious about the seven commitments with your team. You will train and develop your culture of excellence together and unlock more potential than you can now imagine.
That is how you will conquer the VUCA background.
The simple secret is to evolve your character and be worthy of leading other leaders.
Staring down the wolf is your new mantra—getting out of your head and into your heart. Only then can you move beyond your limitations and build a team capable of twenty times more.
This work is easier said than done. But you can trust me on this: it is 100 percent worth it.
Your team is waiting for you to show up.”
297
What does Mark Divine say about growth as a leader?
“A central theme of this book is that your team is your primary mechanism for growth as a leader. Individuals who commit to grow together and work toward a common mission will achieve greatness together.”
298
What does Mark Divine say about VUCA?
“In the new battleground, the internal terrain of emotional power and mindset is where the creative energy to win will come from. Those require new developmental models to effectively deal with the rapid change and uncertainty. After the cold war, the US Army War College coined the acronym for the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of the world—VUCA—which has gained some familiarity in executive suites since. To win the mission in VUCA, leaders will need a next-generation compass, one that helps them to navigate the peaks and valleys of emotional, moral, and spiritual strength.”
299
What does Mark Divine say about the first commitment?
Courage
300
What does Mark Divine say about the second commitment?
Trust
301
What does Mark Divine say about the third commitment?
Respect
302
What does Mark Divine say about the fourth commitment?
Growth
303
What does Mark Divine say about the fifth commitment?
Excellence
304
What does Mark Divine say about the sixth commitment?
Resiliency
305
What does Mark Divine say about the seventh commitment?
Alignment
306
What does Mark Divine say about respect?
“In my view, integrity is to be honest and internally consistent, while backing those strengths with moral uprightness. It takes discipline to think, speak, and act with a goodness of character.”
307
What does Mark Divine say about simplicity?
“Less is more. You want to keep things as simple as possible—but you know that simple is not easy… If you can take a thousand words and distill them down into a short, clear paragraph, that is a sign of mastery. Getting to simplicity requires patience and practice.”
308
What does Mark Divine say about a positive mindset?
“A positive mindset and emotional state are crucial for adaptability. After all, it is easy to be all rainbows and roses when things are going well. ‘Everyone wants to be a frogman on a sunny day,’ was how the SEAL instructors put it. But bring on the shit and let’s see how attitude changes, shall we? The power of optimism and a positive mindset cannot be overstated.”
309
What does Mark Divine say about micro-goals?
“After the first two days and nights with no sleep, my class settled into a new normal—constant performance pressure, intense exhaustion, and plodding to the next meal. I was relying 100 percent on the mental skills I had learned in my Zen work—using breath control and positive self-talk, visualizing success, and maintaining presence. And I collapsed time to focus on micro-goals as the instructors advised. Those skills were money, and many students didn’t have them.”
310
What does Mark Divine say about plans and VUCA?
“No plan will survive VUCA, so to navigate it intact, you have to be clear about why you’re doing what you’re doing each step of the way. Otherwise, you’ll lose respect quickly. Communicate to the team that ultimate victory won’t look anything like what you originally thought, and that is okay.”
311
What does Mark Divine say about gumby?
“Related to elasticity and plasticity—the ability to change and morph as the challenges hit you rapid fire. In the SEALs we coined the term Semper Gumby, which meant always flexible. This was a nod to our Marine brothers, whose motto is Semper Fi—always faithful. SEALs are a bit counterculture in the military, and we thought the little green bendy toy Gumby was a pliable mascot. I mean, you could contort it to do all sorts of things, but it always came back to its normal shape with a little effort. Most days I felt like that.”
312
What does Mark Divine say about global wholeness?
“To end separation from others, we must first end it in ourselves. We must stare down the fear wolf, wake up to our innate goodness and connection to one another, and reach the integrated fifth plateau of development. So, yeah, the fate of humanity does depend upon you. And me. The way to global wholeness is to first become whole ourselves.”
313
What does Henry David Thoreau say about castles?
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."
314
What does Henry David Thoreau say about advancing in the direction of our dreams?
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary: new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or old laws will be expanded and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with license of a higher order of beings.”
315
What does Leo Buscaglia say about living for something?
“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”
316
What does Thomas Jefferson say about a friend?
“A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.”
317
What does Thomas Jefferson say about hard work?
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”
318
What does Aristotle say about what we are?
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit"
319
What does Aristotle say about the virtuous mean?
“For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one’s strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases or preserves it. So it is the same with temperance, courage and the other virtues… This much then, is clear: in all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended.”
320
What does Thomas Edison say about habits?
"The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn't like to do."
321
What does Socrates say about knowing?
"Know thyself"
322
What does Aldous Huxley say about facts?
“Facts do not cease to exist simply because they are ignored.”
323
What does Deepak Chopra say about making use of solitude?
"But first, you have to practice stillness. Stillness is the first requirement of manifesting your desires, because in stillness lies your connection to the field of pure potentiality that can orchestrate an infinity of details for you."
324
What does Deepak Chopra say about the opinion of others?
“I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others.”
325
What does Deepak say about purpose?
“Everyone has a purpose in life… a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of goals.”
326
What does Joseph Campbell say about making use of solitude?
"This is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don't know what was in the newspapers this morning, you don't know who your friends are, you don't know what you owe anybody, you don't know what anybody owes you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you might find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen."
327
What does Joseph Campbell say about a man whose hair is on fire?
“Do not seek illumination unless you seek it as a man whose hair is on fire seeks a pond.”
328
What does Maya Angelou say about courage?
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues. Without that virtue you can’t practice any other virtue with consistency.”
329
What does Vernon Howard say about slow progress?
“Do not be impatient with your seemingly slow progress. Do not try to run faster than you presently can. If you are studying, reflecting and trying, you are making progress whether you are aware of it or not. A traveler walking the road in the darkness of night is still going forward. Someday, some way, everything will break open, like the natural unfolding of a rosebud.”
330
What does Vernon Howard say about switching on the light?
“It is a mistake for anyone to think he has lived too long in his old, unsatisfactory ways to make the great change. If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret.”
331
What does Vernon Howard say about positive negativity?
“Encourage yourself by remembering that any detection of negativity within you is a positive act, not a negative one. Awareness of your weakness and confusion makes you strong because conscious awareness is the bright light that destroys the darkness of negativity. Honest self-observation dissolves pains and pressures that formerly did their dreadful work in the darkness of unawareness. This is so important that I urge you to memorize and reflect upon the following summary: Detection of inner negativity is not a negative act, but a courageously positive act that makes you a new person”
332
What does Michael Beckwith say about positive negativity?
“Not all pain is negative, even though we label all forms of pain as such and resist them. Positive-negativity is a circumstance that causes us to go deeper, to search ourselves, to stop placing blame on the causes of suffering outside ourselves, and take self-responsibility. Circumstances arise and hard times come so that we may grow through them, so that we may evolve. I like to say that a bad day for the ego is a good day for the soul. When we look back on some of our most challenging experiences, we admit that we wouldn’t trade what we gained from them for remaining the same as we were. Something within acknowledges that during those times when we are pressed against the ropes of life, we learn to become more generous, to forgive, to never give up on ourselves or others. We learn to regenerate, to rejuvenate, to surrender.”
333
What do Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr say about the shadow he himself casts?
“Difficult and unpleasant as it may be to accept, we often feel most hostile to those who remind us of aspects of ourselves that we prefer not to see. ‘Ask someone to give a description of the personality type which he finds most despicable, most unbearable and hateful, and most impossible to get along with,’ writes Edward Whitmont, ‘and he will produce a description of his own repressed characteristics…. These very qualities are so unacceptable to him precisely because they represent his own repressed side; only that which we cannot accept within ourselves do we find impossible to live with in others.’ Think for a moment of someone you actively dislike. What quality in that person do you find most objectionable? Now ask yourself, ‘How am I that?’”
334
What does Robert Cooper say about change?
“The origin of the word change is the Old English cambium, which means “to become.””
335
What does Wallace D. Wattles say about demonstration?
“The world needs demonstration more than it needs instruction.”
336
What does Wallace D. Wattles say about competing?
"You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other man will have more than he has now."
337
What does Wallace D. Wattle say about your central idea?
“There is, as Emerson says, some central idea or conception of yourself by which all the facts of your life are arranged and classified. Change this central idea and (you change the arrangement or classification of all the fact and circumstances of your life”
338
What does Steve Chandler say about being out of service?
“SORRY: TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE I won’t produce wealth when I’m out of service. Get it? Out of service. Will not work. Because when I am out of service I am out of service. This I mean to whisper to my mind. Every day.”
339
What does Steve Chandler say about money?
“Reminder to myself: money is a reflection of bold and creative service.”
340
What does Heraclitus say about change?
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."
341
What does Pressfield say about turning pro?
“The thesis of this book is that what ails you and me has nothing to do with being sick or being wrong. What ails us is that we are living our lives as amateurs.
The solution, this book suggests, is that we turn pro.
Turning pro is free, but it’s not easy. You don’t need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind.
Turning pro is free, but not without cost. When we turn pro, we give up a life with which we may have become extremely comfortable. We give up a self that we have come to identify with and to call our own…
Turning pro is not for everyone. We have to be a little crazy to do it, or even to want to. In many ways the passage chooses us; we don’t choose it. We simply have no alternative.
What we get when we turn pro is, we find our power. We find our will and our voice and we find our self-respect. We become who we always were but had, until then, been afraid to embrace and to live out.
Do you remember where you were on 9/11? You’ll remember where you were when you turn pro.“
342
What does Malcolm Gladwell say about practice?
“The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours”
343
What does George Mumford say about homeostasis?
“Our bodies like to be in homeostasis. We like to be balanced. Life is hard enough—we want to be comfortable! But, again, to get better and improve our game on and off the court, we need to move out of our comfort zones. That doesn’t mean you should so far out of your comfort zone that you can’t function well. Our bodies work best when we push them in small increments. If we push ourselves too far, eustress can become distress. We have to really pay attention, because they can manifest the same symptoms. Eustress is achieved through moderation, sticking to the middle way, and not going to extremes. …
Moving out of your comfort zone through experiencing eustress is a continuous incremental process of romancing your discomfort zone. It’s not like you get to a certain level and then stay there. Things are always either going forward or backward; they’re not staying static. If you are comfortable where you are and you just want to stay comfortable, that’s fine, but that isn’t the way to pursue excellence and wisdom.“
344
What does Angela Duckworth say about falling down?
“There’s an old Japanese saying: ‘Fall seven, rise eight.’ If I were ever to get a tattoo, I’d get these four simple words indelibly inked.”
345
What does Angela Duckworth say about being gritty?
“To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to invest, day after week after year, in challenging practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times, and rise eight.”
346
What does Ryan Holiday say about adversarial growth?
“It’s a beautiful idea. Psychologists call it adversarial growth or post-traumatic growth. ‘That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’ is not a cliché but fact.
The struggle against an obstacle inevitably propels the fighter to a new level of functioning. The extent of the struggle determines the extent of the growth. The obstacle is an advantage, not adversity. The enemy is any perception that prevents us from seeing this.”
347
What does Dan Siegel say about the river of integration?
“Now the qualities of an integrated flow spelled a universally memorable word: FACES, for Flexible, Adaptive, Coherent, Energized, and Stable. We can say that any healthy complex system has a FACES flow. In other words, when the self-organizational movement of the system is maximizing complexity, it attains a harmonious flow that is at once flexible, adaptive, coherent, energized, and stable…
I like to imagine the FACES flow as a river. The central channel of the river is the ever-changing flow of integration and harmony. One boundary of this flow is chaos. The other boundary is rigidity. These are the two banks of the river of integration.”
348
What does Dan Siegel say about the surprise of unfolding?
“An old, dear and now-departed friend, the poet, philosopher, and all around wonderfully wise John O’Donohue, captured the essence of this emergent flow when he said that he’d love to live like a river, carried by the surprise of his own unfolding.”
349
What does Emily Dickinson say about hope?
“Hope’ is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And signs the tune without the words—And never stops-— at all—“
350
What does Debbie Ford say about attending lectures?
“This is why I often say, “Attend your own lectures.””
351
What does Eckhart Tolle say about food that makes you sick?
“Once you realize that a certain kind of food makes you sick, would you carry on eating that food and keep asserting that it is okay to be sick?”
352
What does Don Miguel Ruiz say about the fourth agreement?
“There is just one more agreement, but it’s the one that allows the other three to become deeply ingrained habits. The fourth agreement is about the action of the first three: Always do your best.”
353
What does Don Miguel Ruiz say about playing poorly well?
“Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. But keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next. Everything is alive and changing all the time, so your best will sometimes be high quality, and other times it will not be as good.”
354
What does Don Miguel Ruiz say about the second agreement?
“Don’t Take Anything Personally. Nothings others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.”
355
What does Leonardo da Vinci say about self-mastery?
“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”
356
What does Alexander Graham Belle say about focus?
“Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus”
357
What does Osho say about responsibility?
“The word “responsibility” has been used the wrong way. It gives a feeling of burden. You have to do it, it is a duty; if you don’t do it you will feel guilty. I want to remind you that the word ‘responsibility’ has none of those connotations. Break the word in two—response-ability—and you enter a totally different meaning of the word, a different direction… Response-ability simply means spontaneous response. Whatever situation arises, joyously respond to it, with your totality, with your intensity. And the response will not only change the situation, it will change you”
358
What does Viktor Frankl say about what can be taken from a man?
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
359
What does Byron Katie say about suffering?
“The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want”
360
What does Byron Katie say about arguing with reality?
“I realized that it’s insane to oppose it. When I argue with reality, I lose—but only 100% of the time.”
361
What does Byron Katie say about teaching a cat to bark?
“If you want reality to be different than what it is, you might as well try to teach a cat to bark”
362
What does Abraham Maslow say about perfection?
“There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers…even if they are uncommon and do not come by the dozen. And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it”
363
What does Abraham Maslow say about self-actualizing people?
“Self-actualizing people have a deep feeling of identification, sympathy, and affection for human beings in general. They feel kinship and connection, as if all people were members of a single family.”
364
What does Abraham Maslow say about right and wrong?
“They do right and do not do wrong. Needless to say, their notions of right and wrong and of good and evil are often not the conventional ones”
365
What does Eric Butterworth say about faith?
“Faith is expectancy. You do not receive what you want; you do not receive what you pray for, not even what you say you have faith in. You will always receive what you actually expect.”
366
What does Eric Butterworth say about security?
“The word secure comes from two small Latin words: se meaning ‘without’ and cure meaning ‘care’—being without care, freedom from anxiety. Victor Hugo articulates this very special sense in this lovely couplet:
‘Be like the bird
That pausing in her flight
While on boughs too slight,
Feels them give way
Beneath her, and yet sings,
Knowing she hath wings.’“
367
What does Einstein say about the universe?
“A human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe’; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison.”
368
What does Jesus say about ruling your spirit?
“He who rules his spirit has won a greater victory than the taking of a city”
369
What does William Faulkner say about being better?
“Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
370
What does Gandhi say about his message?
“My life is my message.”
371
What does The Diamond Cutter say about good vs. bad things?
“In the last chapter we spoke about the hidden potential in all things—what the Buddhists have always called ‘emptiness.’ We saw, clearly, that nothing that ever happens to us is a good thing or a bad thing from its own side, because—if it were—then everyone else would experience it that way as well. For example, our irritating person at work would strike everyone else in exactly the same way, if his or her “irritating-ness” were something inside that was flowing out of that individual and flying across the room to us. In reality though there is almost always someone who finds the person good and lovable.”
372
What does Jack Canfield say about responsibility?
“It is time to stop looking outside yourself for the answers to why you haven’t created the life and results you want, for it is you who creates the quality of the life you lead and the results you produce. You—no one else! To achieve major success in life—to achieve those things that are most important to you—you must assume 100% responsibility for your life. Nothing less will do.”
373
What does Sonja Lyubomirsky say about barrier thoughts?
“Write down your barrier thoughts, and then consider ways to reinterpret the situation. In the process, ask yourself questions like… What else could this situation or experience mean? Can anything good come from it? Does it present any opportunities for me? What lessons can I learn and apply to the future? Did I develop any strengths as a result?”
374
What does Eckart Tolle say about accept then act?
“Accept—then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.”
375
What does Anthony de Mello say about change?
“As the great Confucius said, ‘The one who would be in constant happiness must frequently change.’ Flow. But we keep looking back, don’t we? We cling to things in the past and cling to things in the present… Do you want to enjoy a symphony? Don’t hold on to a few bars of the music. Don’t hold on to a couple of notes. Let them pass, let them flow. The whole enjoyment of a symphony lies in your readiness to allow the notes to pass…”
376
What does Sonia Choquette say about timing?
“Timing is the Divine’s way of again reminding us that we co-create with the Universe—we aren’t doing it alone. We plant, water, and weed the seeds of creativity, but we don’t have the power to make them grow, let alone grow according to our schedule. How it all unfolds is up to God. God’s wisdom will fulfill our deepest intentions once we set them in motion. Our part is to create the perfect conditions for the Universe to flow through us—much like our job is to create the perfect conditions for the garden to grow—but that’s all we can do. God flows through us and develops our gardens according to his own timetable. And thank goodness for that, because God knows and grows better than we do.”
377
What does Sonia Choquette say about the universe’s pulse and rhythm?
“The Universe has a pulse and rhythm of its own, and it wants to carry you with it—so if you dance with Spirit, just remember to let it lead.”
378
What does Tal Ben-Shahar say about intrinsic goals?
“As research on self-concordant goals illustrates, Campbell’s belief is much more than a superstition. When we follow our bliss, we not only enjoy the journey, we are also more successful.”
379
What does Pema Chodron say about cleansing our minds of anger?
“We’d be wise to question why we hold a grudge as if it were going to make us happy and ease our pain. It’s rather like eating rat poison and thinking the rat will die. Our desire for relief and the methods we use to achieve it are definitely not in sync.”
380
What does Robert Frost say about the road less travelled?
“I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I… I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.”
381
What does Wayne Dyer say about the positive effect of kindness?
“The positive effect of kindness on the immune system and on the increased production of serotonin in the brain has been proven in research studies. Serotonin is a naturally occurring substance in the body that makes us feel more comfortable, peaceful, and even blissful. In fact, the role of most anti-depressants is to stimulate the production of serotonin chemically, helping to ease depression. Research has shown that a simple act of kindness directed toward another improves the functioning of the immune system and stimulates the production of serotonin in both the recipient of the kindness and the person extending the kindness. Even more amazing is that persons observing the act of kindness have similar beneficial results. Imagine this! Kindness extended, received, or observed beneficially impacts the physical health and feelings of everyone involved”
382
What does Napoleon Hill say about what the mind can conceive?
“What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
383
What does J. Paul Getty say about the force of habit?
“The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him—and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.”
384
What does George Washington Carver say about the force of habit?
“Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.”
385
What does Sonja Lyubomirsky say about the happiness in our control?
“What makes up this 40 percent? Besides our genes and the situations that we confront, there is one critical thing left: our behavior. Thus the key to happiness lies not in changing our genetic makeup (which is impossible) and not in changing our circumstances (i.e., seeking wealth or attractiveness or better colleagues, which is usually impractical), but in our daily intentional activities. With this in mind, our pie chart illustrates the potential of the 40 percent that is within our ability to control, the 40 percent for room to maneuver, for opportunities to increase or decrease our happiness levels through what we do in our daily lives and how we think.”
386
What does William James say about untapped power?
“You have enormous untapped power you’ll probably never tap, because most people never run far enough on their first wind to ever find they have a second.”
387
What does Schopenhauer say about virtues and mistakes?
“There is no vice, of which a man can be guilty, no meanness, no shabbiness, no unkindness, which excited so much indignation among his contemporaries, friends and neighbors, as his success. This is the one unpardonable crime, which reason cannot defend, nor [can] humility mitigate.”
