living

“When I look back at the past and think of all the time I squandered in error and idleness, lacking the knowledge needed to live, when I think of how often I sinned against my heart and my soul, then my heart bleeds. Life is a gift, life is happiness, every minute could have been an eternity of happiness! If youth only knew! Now my life will change; now I will be reborn. Dear brother, I swear that I shall not lose hope. I will keep my soul pure and my heart open. I will be reborn for the better.” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

enemies

“Be careful who you choose as your enemy because that's who you become most like.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

activity

“Never mistake activity for achievement.” - John Wooden

the way

“I will either find a way, or make a way.” - Hannibal

genius

“Do not talk about giftedness, inborn talents! One can name great men of all kinds who were very little gifted. They acquired greatness, became "geniuses"….They allowed themselves time for it.” - FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

certainty

“The need for certainty is the greatest disease the mind faces.” - Robert Greene

the company you keep

“Whoever makes his way into a tyrants court becomes his slave, although he went there a free man.” - Sophocles

life

"The goal of adulthood is to let go of the other possible existences and to make the best of the one. A successful adult is one who understands that it doesn't matter which life you ultimately pick, only that you live it well." - Chris Ballas

criticism

"Criticizing is easy and fast. Creating is difficult and slow. The two hours you spent on a book or movie usually took two years to produce. 

Anyone can tear down someone else’s work. The true test of insight is whether you can help them improve it or build something of your own." - Adam Grant

success

“Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you capable of becoming.” - John Wooden

madness

“Madness is something rare in individuals—but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages it is the rule.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

adaptation

“One thing to keep in mind: no matter the type of culture, or how disruptive it might have been in its origins, the longer a group exists and the larger it grows, the more conservative it will become. This is an inevitable result of the desire to hold on to what people have made or built, and to rely on tried-and-true ways to maintain the status quo. This creeping conservatism will often be the death of the group, because it slowly loses the ability to adapt.” - Robert Greene

happiness

“The most pleasurable things in life occur as a result of something not directly intended and expected. When we try to manufacture happy moments, they tend to disappoint us.” - Robert Greene

beauty

“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” - Franz Kafka

current reading list

perspective

“This is why the same external events or circumstances affect no two people alike; even with perfectly similar surroundings every one lives in a world of his own....The world in which a man lives shapes itself chiefly by the way in which he looks at it, and so it proves different to different men; to one it is barren, dull, and superficial; to another rich, interesting, and full of meaning. On hearing of the interesting events which have happened in the course of a man's experience, many people will wish that similar things had happened in their lives too, completely forgetting that they should be envious rather of the mental aptitude which lent those events the significance they possess when he describes them.” - Arthur Schopenhauer

tomorrow

"Finish every day and be done with it. For manners and for wise living it is a vice to remember. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day for all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the rotten yesterdays." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

character

“If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” - Abraham Lincoln

decision making

"I can't tell you how much time is spent worrying about decisions that don't matter. To just be able to make a decision and see what happens is tremendously empowering, but that means you have to set up the situation such that when something does go wrong, you can fix it." - Ward Cunningham

character

“Character is destiny.” - Heraclitus