this is a collection of wise words i have heard or read, or quotes i’ve thought of myself. I’ve categorized quotes by what they pertain to to make this page easier to maintain. Authors are not always credited, because a lot of things are just a subconscious paraphrase of other things i’ve heard. If it isn’t attributed to anyone, i may have put the words together, but i don’t claim it as my own
more organized collections of personal wisdom are under
other wise words
- narcissism has no gender — Minori
- tolerance is just deferred hatred
- weak messages create bad situations — David Shrigley
- if you see the same tree twice in a forest, it means you are lost
- praying for sunny days makes the rainy days wetter
- time has its own agenda
- familiarity breeds contempt
- light enters where the wound is —Rumi
- a boy becomes a man when he has the wisdom to have good judgement and the courage to trust it
- bullshit: speech intended to persuade without regard for truth —Harry Frankford
- The mouse dies in the mousetrap because it doesn’t understand why the cheese is free
- if an oil company wants to buy your house, there’s oil underneath —Matt Diston, R E 250
- giving up your independence eventually in-debts you to deceit
- the squeaky wheel gets the grease
- empty barrels make the most noise
- the naked man fears no pickpocket
- the most colorful place in a store is the candy aisle
- it is the burglar who says the door was unlocked
- inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist —George Carlin
tech
- complexity is inversely proportional to number of lines of code
- one of the weaknesses of engineers is that we find more joy in figuring things out for ourselves than asking for advice
creation
- great, creative minds think like artists but work like accountants — David Brooks
- make your own shit. Don’t play other people’s games
- if I do what everybody else does, I’m going to get what everybody else gets — Hawa Dremmeh
- you shouldn’t place expectations on outcomes that are dependent on luck. Live in the present and focus intently on the process
- a career is built on the work you do and the business upon which you assess the value of it
- after one has played a vast quantity of notes, it is the simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art —Chopin
work
- chase mastery, but don’t lose sight of why you started — artfaxing
- deep work is the highest payed skill on the planet
- losers visualize the penalties of failure, winners visualize the rewards of success
- Neither comprehension nor learning can take place in an atmosphere of anxiety —Rose Kennedy
- the division between what and how is crucial but is overlooked in the professional world
- study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible. —Richard P Feynman
- if you want to win the war for attention, don’t try to say ‘no’ to the trivial distractions you find on the information smorgasboard; try to say ‘yes’ to the subject that arouses a terrifying longing, and let the terrifying longing crowd out everything else
- you have no hope of controlling your attention if you do not control your technology
- catching small things before they snowball into big ones is where real work happens
- people with high levels of trait self-control are good at avoiding temptation, not resisting it
- at NASA, everyone aspires to build the engine, but the reality is most of them will work as pieces people —Martin Greytak
- 95% of the time when you have the time and energy to do something, you don’t have the time to think about what to do, you need to have already done that —David Allen
- you work more efficiently when you align your side hustle with your day job
- persistence is about getting up after you’ve given up
- the fastest way to get to where you want to be is by slowing down and doing it right
business
- patience is the best negotiator
- if you have to tell people what you are you probably aren’t what you tell them —Minori
- fantasizing about a reward soothes the inner drive needed to attain it
- people stop wanting to do things they are under compulsion to do
- if you overpromise you will underdeliver
- job security is when things work right when you are around
- if you know their names and faces they are merely middle management
- for a high-quality future, you must reject a low-quality present
- people want to open the fridge and see cake, not the ingredients —Minori
- the only way you can get what you want is by believing you can get what you want
- leaders do not have time or resources to be petty with pathetic people
- follow your passion is what rich people say after they’ve made their money —Scott Galloway
- if you are leading something worthwhile, it is your job to be on call 24/7
- fight to realize the vision, do not fight to keep people. No one will ever be more invested in your thing than you
- a goal that requires course correction from the current path of least resistance in order to succeed requires an degree of sustained effort that is unattainable without an evolving, shared vision
- what you do to collaborate and form partnerships is infinitely more important than how you compete against your rivals
- it’s not about saying the right thing, its about saying what is consistent with your allies
- fearful uncertainty should be met with empowering questions
- when trying to persuade a person of your idea, never assume you know what they want or don’t want.
- people will often equate the value of a product with what you charge for it
- it’s better to be the dumbest person in a room full of smart people, than the smartest person in a room full of dumb people
survival
- pain is the single biggest barrier in getting people to adopt a product
- keep poverty at arms length
- money is a wonderful servant but a terrible master — P.T. Barnum
- the apocalypse is fun if you’re the one with the guns
- every moment you are driving you are having a conversation with the outside world. Being a good driver is about your ability to keep that conversation going
- driving angry is just as dangerous as driving drunk or tired
wellbeing
- Modern luxery is the ability to think clearly, sleep deeply, move slowly, and live quietly in a world designed to prevent all four. —Justin Welsh
- physical pain makes emotional pain manifest
- when you feel tired before a big event, your body is actually rationing energy for you,
- if you want to be rich, go where the rich people are. If you want to be happy, go where the happy people are
- emotional stability is a scarce resource
- unchecked optimism mutates into to manic delusion
- life has a rhythm to it that an obsession can take you out of if you allow it
- believing there is a matrix to escape from is itself a matrix
- when you are depressed, create things
- you don’t have to have it all figured out to be happy
- fun is enjoyment of the unplanned
- there is only so much you need to do to live well and happily
- one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day
- as the sun shines equally on all, let your smile shine equally on all — Senenca
- wealth is the quiet understanding that your worth isn’t tied to productivity, perfection, or performance wealth is being given the freedom to explore who you are, without the weight of who others expect you to be
society
- the society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools —Thucydides
- don’t beg anyone to get on the ark, just keep building and let everyone know the rain is coming
- the US is a third-world country with first-world veneers
- Controversy demonstrates who is in power because it demonstrates what the cultural consensus is
- it’s hard enough to solve our problems without solving our ancestors problems
- the only free nation is your imagination
- we are dying to be human but killing ourselves trying
- the mouse dies in the mousetrap because it doesn’t understand why the cheese is free
- the wise and fearful feed off the brave and innocent
- police brutality is derivative of urban design, which requires police to be imported like zookeepers into communities they are foreign to
- it is the hedonism of men and the ignorance of women that drive societal decay
relationships
- para-social relationships are toxic to the admirer and empowering to the admired
- our best friends are the ones who will challenge your convictions and still accept you either way
- tell people the brutal truth when they ask you for it. Lying makes people trust you less and take you less seriously —they will then only ask you questions they know you will lie to them about to further delude themselves
- your friends usually won’t know how much you admire and value them unless you tell them
- don’t spend time with people you don’t have admirable things to say about them
- even when people know you well and have your best intentions in mind, you can’t always Trust that they know what’s best for you more than you do
- men are not conditioned to reject their dark fantasies like women are
- if you get too loose and too familiar with folks you need to share with, they don’t believe nothing you’re saying —Dr. Bertice Berry
- don’t talk shit about anyone done so with respect and in confidence
- understand a person’s idea of freedom and you can talk to them about anything
- the best way to get to know someone is through the music, art, and poetry that speaks to them
- the company of another can be enjoyed in silence if you both observe the same space
- its easier to trick people than to convince them they’ve been tricked —Terrence Mckenna
- vague questions deserve vague answers
- truth is everybody is going to hurt you. You just gotta find the ones worth suffering for — Bob Marley
- love in action is just making someones life a little bit easier
maturity (split up?)
- identity is tied to hardship
- the greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively —Bob Marley
- the worst thing about weakness is that it leads to dishonesty
- if something can corrupt you, you’re corrupted already —Bob Marley
- we are the minesweepers of our own character flaws
- maturity requires us to balance meeting external obligations while leaving space for the cocoon of inner world development. From the perspective of friends and bosses, this process occurs awkwardly. It uncomfortable, so the most natural period for this in most people’s lives is during adolescence. But we are in continual need of readjusting our highest values with the natural default we fall back on
- you can’t directly change who you are, but you can choose your interpretation of reality —the set of values you form in response to your environment, the beings you share it with, and the relationships you have with them. To change your character, you have to embrace insecurity and challenge your outstanding values. It takes courage, intentionality and selectivity to do this. Character development is an awkward process does not thrive in the limelight that natural selection rewards
- people of character are not born, they are regular people who surrender to challenge
- the most painful things in life come from looking back on the happiness you weren’t mature enough to value
- if the commitment you make is true, time will reveal what is already inside of you to the outside world
- don’t just commit to decisions that are brave. Make sure they are right
- giving yourself to someone is is the highest virtue
- its much easier to work with what you got than to fight with what you don’t have
- When you like a flower you pluck it, but when you love a flower you water it daily — Buddha
- we get old when the weight of our memories and regrets starts to exceed that of our dreams
- be patient when you have nothing and be humble when you have everything
- develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-changing big things
- It is so much simpler to bury reality than it is to dispose of dreams -Don DeLillo, Americana
- few killers are great people, but many great people have had the power to kill
- potential is what people see when they think what’s in front of them isn’t good enough —Sintara Golden from American Fiction
- when you are in an uncomfortable situation surrounded by unfamiliar people, the best thing you can say is “hello”. Because it’s easier to start a conversation with your neighbor than it is to play coy and sit by them in silence
- have gratitude, and if you can’t, be curious about why —Minori
- hope puts you at the doorway of opportunity, so you can greet it when it comes through — Minori
- be not in despair, the way is very difficult, like walking on the edge of a razor; yet despair not, arise, awake, and find the ideal, the goal.
- Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you. —Walt Whitman
- running counter to the ways of the world is the purpose of our lives. We are here to repair the world, not to help it be the way it has been
- your inability to overcome addiction is really just an inability to see your addiction as a choice against doing other things you find more meaningful and important
- Spend enough time in one place to grow, but not enough to get comfortable
- in history as in a human life, regret does not bring back a lost moment and one thousand years will not bring back something lost in a single hour
- love is when you can fully commit to something you know you will probably lose
- worldly concerns will try to lead you astray from love. The ultimate test of your character comes in your ability to resist them.
- don’t look back on past decisions unless you are only doing so to unpack them and lay them to rest
- you cannot hide from what is meant for you, you can only run from it until there is nothing left
- when you choose, choose fully
- you can do anything you want if you understand that you won’t get everything that you want
- all the respect we have for others starts with the respect we have for ourselves
- true power is knowing what you can change and letting be what you cannot
- Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. —Henry David Thoreau
- follow your dreams, just make sure they’re yours
- when we allow external systems to dictate meaning to us, we give away the potential to determine life’s purpose —Aperture
dhamma
- the consequences of all actions is impermanent
- the more we let external desires guide our thoughts and decisions, the easier we make it for new desires to displace and deprioritize what we obtain when we finally do get what we want
- you cannot see the peaks of joy without having traversed the valleys of despair
- the encounter with divinity as otherness is one that undoes the structures of our being —seekersofunity
- artists, philosophers, and spiritual leaders across cultures and eras have recognized there is an unsurpassed depth of consciousness found through the medium of love
- by resisting worldly concerns that detract from accepting what is most real, severe, and unpleasant, you internalize the gratitude for the good that exists in your life. Internalized gratitude enables you to love unconditionally, because if the love in your relationship is true, you will be able to recognize the good in your partner. This allows you to remain unwavering in your commitment to loving them, regardless of the challenges, fears, personal sacrifices, and uncertainties you may face together.
- there is two types of tired, one where you require sleep, and one where you require peace
- energy is neither created nor destroyed, only redirected
- sometimes it’s better to take 3 lefts than 1 right
- water is the link between the non-living and living world
- i do not need to believe god, i know god —Jung
- Buddhism is not love and light. It is hard work. If you want love and light, go to the amusement park — Gehlek Rimpoche
- There is no such thing as athiesm. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what we worship — David Foster Wallace
- The best way to find a person on the right path, is by asking him about religions other than his own
- if you need the threat of hell to be a good person than you are a bad person on a leash
- action makes life — Shi Heng Yi
- running counter to the ways of the world is the purpose of our lives. We are here to repair the world, not to help it be the way it has been
- it is a great sin to slander a kindred spirit
- shutting your eyes to evil prevents goodness from prevailing
- nothing is in vain that increases the net understanding of things that are important
- life on earth is not about humans —Joscha Bach
migrate this ⬇️
the creative process
- viewing yourself as too old for anything imprisons the wisdom you’ve accrued in age
- practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best
- true learning requires you to own up to past ignorance
- always study as if tomorrow you won’t be able to
- a poet is always trying to describe what cannot be said — Alan Watts
- no piece of art is ever done, it’s just abandoned — John Tyler (a friend)
- be the fan that isn’t getting quite what you are looking for
- don’t try to create and analyze at the same time. They are different processes
- maintain a distinct private and public body of work
- over-planning sucks the life out of the creative process
writing
- it’s unwise to write from the perspective of how things should be, and rather, write from the perspective of how things feel. This allows you to build upon the truth within you that is always developing. Readers can better connect with the characters and deduce their own truths from the stories you weave in their place
- you can’t write about anything good until you understand your own reaction to what you are writing about
- being a good story teller is all about knowing what information is too broad, too personal, or not clear
creative motivation
- God sent me on earth. God sent me to do something, and nobody can stop me. If God wants to stop me, then I stop. Man never can — Bob Marley
- the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams — Eleanor Roosevelt
- the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit — Paulo Coelho
- You might know what happens next but you don’t know what happens after that and that’s ok, because you’re a grown up, and you will figure it out — Niel Gaiman
- You don’t have to force yourself to not sleep in. Just always think of sleeping in from the context if the things that are important
- We give up greatness in deference to comfort
- when you are prolific, you are too tired to sleep
- the next time you’re tempted to procrastinate, focus on this question: “what’s the next action i would take on this task if i were to get started now?“