Site uses cookies to provide basic functionality.

OK
Query
Tags
Author
Link Quote Stars Tags Author
a16c7d1 An entrepreneur is someone with faith in their ability to make something where there was nothing before. To them, the idea that no one has ever done this or that is a good thing. Ryan Holiday
20a4d72 Where one person sees a crisis, another can see opportunity. Where one is blinded by success, another sees reality with ruthless objectivity. Where one loses control of emotions, another can remain calm. Desperation, despair, fear, powerlessness--these reactions are functions of our perceptions. You must realize: Nothing makes us feel this way; we choose to give in to such feelings. Ryan Holiday
c456e5b Our perceptions determine, to an incredibly large degree, what we are and are not capable of. In many ways, they determine reality itself. When we believe in the obstacle more than in the goal, which will inevitably triumph? Ryan Holiday
84cd0f8 People turn shit into sugar all the time--shit that's a lot worse than whatever we're dealing with. I'm talking physical disabilities, racial discrimination, battles against overwhelmingly superior armies. But those people didn't quit. They didn't feel sorry for themselves. They didn't delude themselves with fantasies about easy solutions. They focused on the one thing that mattered: applying themselves with gusto and creativity. Ryan Holiday
b6900cf You will come across obstacles in life--fair and unfair. And you will discover, time and time again, that what matters most is not what these obstacles are but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure. Ryan Holiday
39aeb36 Does what happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness? Ryan Holiday
76d9716 Vires acquirit eundo (We gather strength as we go). Ryan Holiday
9070b68 Desperation, despair, fear, powerlessness -- these reactions are functions of our perceptions. You must realize: Nothing makes us feel this way; we choose to give in to such feelings. Or, like Rockefeller, choose not to. Ryan Holiday
28e1c2a When we aim high, pressure and stress obligingly come along for the ride. Stuff is going to happen that catches us off guard, threatens or scares us. Surprises (unpleasant ones, mostly) are almost guaranteed. The risk of being overwhelmed is always there. In these situations, talent is not the most sought-after characteristic. Grace and poise are, because these two attributes precede the opportunity to deploy any other skill. We must posses.. Ryan Holiday
1f55f57 The Greeks had a word for this: apatheia. It's the kind of calm equanimity that comes with the absence of irrational or extreme emotions. Not the loss of feeling altogether, just the loss of the harmful, unhelpful kind. Don't let the negativity in, don't let those emotions even get started. Just say: No, thank you. I can't afford to panic. Ryan Holiday
8e2fb8b As we first succeed, we will find ourselves in new situations, facing new problems. Ryan Holiday
be5971b If you start believing in your greatness, it is the death of your creativity." Just" Ryan Holiday
1865220 In Workaholics Anonymous, one the exercises involves a simple reminder. We must, they say, "catch ourselves before we relapse into ego and self-will." That is: Rest before you get tired. Check your impulses before they take over. Avoid the idiot lights--stop before there is a problem." Ryan Holiday
d48c816 Living clearly and presently takes courage. Don't live in the haze of the abstract, live with the tangible and real, even if--especially if--it's uncomfortable. Be part of what's going on around you. Feast on it, adjust for it. There's Ryan Holiday
135387f Someone recently published a book called Working On My Novel, filled with social media posts from writers who are clearly not working on their novels. Writing, Ryan Holiday
832cea3 self-confidence becomes arrogance, assertiveness becomes obstinacy, and self-assurance becomes reckless abandon." This" Ryan Holiday
a2aafaf Research shows that while goal visualization is important, after a certain point our mind begins to confuse it with actual progress. The same goes for verbalization. Even Ryan Holiday
4ffe07b We can't take or receive feedback if we are incapable of or uninterested in hearing from outside sources. We can't recognize opportunities--or create them--if instead of seeing what is in front of us, we live inside our own fantasy. Ryan Holiday
8d2717a Do not believe that he who seeks to comfort you lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life has much difficulty and sadness and remains far behind yours. Were it otherwise he would never have been able to find those words. --RAINER MARIA RILKE Ryan Holiday
968e730 Death doesn't make life pointless, but rather purposeful. Ryan Holiday
263f7b3 Whether what you're going through is your fault or your problem doesn't matter, because it's yours to deal with right now. Ryan Holiday
ca627fd If you can't swallow your pride, you can't lead." He" Ryan Holiday
f28bd64 The investor and serial entrepreneur Ben Horowitz put it more bluntly: "The hard thing isn't setting a big, hairy, audacious goal. The hard thing is laying people off when you miss the big goal.... The hard thing isn't dreaming big. The hard thing is waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat when the dream turns into a nightmare." Ryan Holiday
8165e20 Sherman had a good rule he tried to observe. "Never give reasons for what you think or do until you must. Maybe," Ryan Holiday
9a005f9 Do I need this? Or is it really about ego? Ryan Holiday
1a0a73d A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts, so he loses touch with reality and lives in a world of illusions. Ryan Holiday
ead95e2 And why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice! --EURIPIDES Ryan Holiday
9559bc0 storytelling in which eventually your talent becomes your identity and your accomplishments become your worth. But a story like this is never honest or helpful. In my retelling to you just now, I left a lot out. Conveniently omitted were the stresses and temptations; the stomach-turning drops and the mistakes--all the mistakes--were left on the cutting-room floor in favor of the highlight reel. They are the times I would rather not discuss:.. Ryan Holiday
4157fc3 The combination of power, fear, and mania can be deadly. The leader, convinced that he might be betrayed, acts first and betrays others first. Afraid that he's not well liked, he works so hard to get others to like him that it has the opposite effect. Convinced of mismanagement, he micromanages and becomes the source of the mismanagement. And on and on - the things we fear or dread, we blindly inflict on ourselves. power Ryan Holiday
979db94 Some things are in our control, while others are not. We control our opinion, choice, desire, aversion, and, in a word, everything of our own doing. We don't control our body, property, reputation, position, and, in a word, everything not of our own doing. Ryan Holiday
1d0dd1d A good person is invincible, for they don't rush into contests in which they aren't the strongest. If you want their property, take it--take also their staff, profession, and body. But you will never compel what they set out for, nor trap them in what they would avoid. For the only contest the good person enters is that of their own reasoned choice. How can such a person not be invincible?" --EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.6.5-7" Ryan Holiday
3039685 Remember, if there is one core teaching at the heart of this philosophy, it's that we're not as smart and as wise as we'd like to think we are. If we ever do want to become wise, it comes from the questioning and from humility--not, as many would like to think, from certainty, mistrust, and arrogance. Ryan Holiday
39f28f8 Neither were we allowed to choose what we ate. I have a friend whose seven-year-old will only consider something if it's white. Had I tried that, my parents would have said, "You're on," and served me a bowl of paste, followed by joint compound, and, maybe if I was good, some semen." David Sedaris
6f288a2 the most likely explanation is that there was indeed a plot, however imperfect, to endanger the Lusitania in order to involve the United States in the war. Erik Larson
3f222fd This is the story of Isaac and his time in America, the last turning of the centuries, when the hubris of men led them to believe they could disregard even nature itself. Erik Larson
8f5be6d Mowrer and his family made it safely to Tokyo. His wife, Lillian, recalled her great sorrow at having to leave Berlin. "Nowhere have I had such lovely friends as in Germany," she wrote. "Looking back on it all is like seeing someone you love go mad--and do horrible things." Erik Larson
3744f2c In traveling about the city that day, Dodd was struck anew by the "extraordinary" German penchant for Christmas display. He saw Christmas trees everywhere, in every public square and every window. "One might think," he wrote, "the Germans believed in Jesus or practiced his teachings!" Erik Larson
862ccb9 An artist, he paints with lakes and wooded slopes, with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills." -- Daniel Burnham talking about Frederick Law Olmstead" chicago daniel-burnham frederick-law-olmstead landscape-architecture Erik Larson
e08416c Messersmith wrote. "We must keep in mind, I believe, that when Hitler says anything he for the moment convinces himself that it is true. He is basically sincere; but he is at the same time a fanatic." Messersmith urged skepticism regarding Hitler's protestations. "I think for the moment he genuinely desires peace but it is a peace of his own kind and with an armed force constantly becoming more effective in reserve, in order to impose their.. Erik Larson
293d290 But one thing was quite clear...." [Sol Bloom, chief of the Midway] wrote. "[B]eing broke didn't disturb me in the least. I had started with nothing, and if I now found myself with nothing, I was at least even. Actually, I was much better than even: I had had a wonderful time." Erik Larson
2f54589 When you find nothing," Morris said, "it means you're eliminating what surrounds the something." "Is that a Zen thing?" Eve questioned. "If not, it should be." J.D. Robb
1ef26bd Because dead people don't get angry. They're dead. J.D. Robb
39d5440 Simple doesn't mean unfulfilled. J.D. Robb
70e1f4c Can't change what was," she said with a shrug. "So you deal with what is" J.D. Robb