Brett McKay > Quotes

“If you see birds flying high in the sky, it means clear weather. However, if you see a lot of birds roosting on power lines and trees, this either means they're conspiring against you or falling air pressure and bad weather are on the way. Expect rain and/or a killer seagull attack in the next twelve hours.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“It’s tempting to straddle the fence and try to have it both ways. Yet in attempting to live in two choices at once, you will find that you truly inhabit neither one.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“A boy will dabble in a thousand pursuits and then drop them when he gets bored or they become too difficult. A man will always finish what he starts.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Don’t talk or answer your cell phone while talking to ANYONE in person. There are no exceptions to this rule. Don’t answer it when you’re talking to someone at a party. Don’t answer it when you’re eating at a restaurant. Don’t answer it when you’re making a purchase or ordering food; the server or clerk is not a robot; each is a human being deserving of your respect.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.” —THEODORE ROOSEVELT”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.” —HONORE DE BALZAC”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“worked harder, longer and more efficiently than the next guy.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“For the Romans, gravitas denoted a man’s metaphorical “heaviness” — a strength of purpose, sense of authority, depth of character, and commitment to the task at hand that together formed a structure sturdy enough to bear the weight of his significant responsibilities”
― Brett McKay

“A boy doesn’t have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn’t like pie when he sees there isn’t enough to go around.” —EDGAR WATSON HOWE”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“So our definition of manliness, like that of the ancients, is simple: striving for virtue, honor, and excellence in all areas of your life, fulfilling your potential as a man, and being the absolute best brother, friend, husband, father and citizen you can be.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues

“A man who had mastered the art of manliness embodied many, if not all, of these manly characteristics: Looks out for and is loyal to his friends and family. Does the right thing, even when it’s not convenient. Is proficient in the manly arts. Treats women with respect and honor. Serves and gives back to his community. Sacrifices for the good of others. Works hard and seldom complains. Exhibits both great courage and tender compassion. Has a confident swagger but isn’t a pompous jerk. Is witty without succumbing to sarcasm. Embraces instead of shirks responsibility. You probably have grandfathers who exemplify this kind of honorable manliness. But something happened in the last fifty years to cause these positive manly virtues and skills to disappear from the current generations of men. Fathers have ceased passing on the art of manliness to their sons, and our culture, nervous to assign any single set of virtues to one sex, has stripped the meaning of manliness of anything laudatory.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Few things are more annoying than a man who must constantly one-up others during conversation.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Preparing food for your guest is an ancient rite of hospitality.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the pleasures of a great shave at a barber. It’s a relaxing, luxurious experience”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“The ability to show hospitality has been a measure of one’s character across cultures and time.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Courage does not consist in the absence of fear, but in the conquest of it.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues

“Many men today feel inexplicably restless, unfulfilled and depressed. They seek all the things society tells them will heal their man spirit: carefully watching their diet, taking supplements, exercising and visiting a shrink. And yet they find no relief. Why? They’re skipping out on perhaps the most crucial element in maintaining their manly vigor: spending time in the great outdoors.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“In the great battle of life, no brilliancy of intellect, no perfection of bodily development, will count when weighed in the balance against the assemblage of virtues, active and passive, of moral qualities which we group together under the name of character.” —THEODORE ROOSEVELT”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Barbers, on the other hand, are interesting guys with fascinating stories to tell. And I in turn feel at ease to say what’s on my mind. We converse about politics, cars, sports and family. Guys who are waiting read the newspaper and comment on current events. And everyone is involved: the barbers, the customers getting their haircut and the customers waiting to get their haircut.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“A man’s path to virtuous excellence begins with his pursuit of the seven manly virtues. These virtues, if diligently sought after and lived, will help a man unlock his fullest power and potential. The seven virtues are: Manliness Courage Industry Resolution Self-Reliance Discipline Honor These seven virtues can be striven for by any man, in any situation.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues

“A woman can still be a man’s equal, and yet be worthy of being treated with honor, respect”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Wanted, a man who is larger than his calling, who considers it a low estimate of his occupation to value it merely as a means of getting a living. Wanted, a man who sees self-development, education and culture, discipline and drill, character and manhood, in his occupation. Wanted, a man of courage who is not a coward in any part of his nature. Wanted, a man who is symmetrical, and not one-sided in his development, who has not sent all the energies of his being into one narrow specialty and allowed all the other branches of his life to wither and die. Wanted, a man who is broad, who does not take half views of things; a man who mixes common sense with his theories, who does not let a college education spoil him for practical, every-day life; a man who prefers substance to show, and one who regards his good name as a priceless treasure.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues

“Hanging out consists of people getting together in groups and doing stuff together. The atmosphere is relaxed and relations in the group rarely rise above the level of friendship (or friendship with benefits). Dating consists of pairing off with someone in a temporary commitment so you can get to know the person better and perhaps start a long-term relationship with them. There is nothing wrong with hanging out, but it’s not a replacement for dating.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“The first requisite of all education and discipline should be man-timber. Tough timber must come from well grown, sturdy trees. Such wood can be turned into a mast, can be fashioned into a piano or an exquisite carving. But it must become timber first. Time and patience develop the sapling into the tree. So through discipline, education, experience, the sapling child is developed into hardy mental, moral, physical man-timber. If the youth should start out with the fixed determination that every statement he makes shall be the exact truth; that every promise he makes shall be redeemed to the letter; that every appointment shall be kept with the strictest faithfulness and with full regard for other men’s time; if he should hold his reputation as a priceless treasure, feel that the eyes of the world are upon him, that he must not deviate a hair’s breadth from the truth and right; if he should take such a stand at the outset, he would … come to have almost unlimited credit and the confidence of everybody who knows him.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues

“Emily Post’s Etiquette was the most requested book by G.I.s during World War II.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“All of history’s great leaders had moments of glorious success and moments of devastating defeat. Great leaders focus on the things they can change and influence, and the past is not one of those things. If you fail, learn from it but cease to dwell on it. When you succeed, celebrate with your followers and move on.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Wanted, a man “who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose passions are trained to heed a strong will, the servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues

“It is only the man who carries into his pursuits that great quality which Lucan ascribes to Caesar, Nescia virtus stare loco [his energy could never rest]—who first consults wisely, then resolves firmly, and then executes his purpose with inflexible perseverance, undismayed by those petty difficulties which daunt a weaker spirit—that can advance to eminence in any line.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues

“I don’t know what it is. Perhaps it’s the combination of the smell of hair tonics and the all-man atmosphere. But more so, it’s the awareness of the tradition of barbershops. Barbershops are places of continuity; they don’t change with the shifts in culture. The places and barbers look the same as they did when your dad got his hair cut. It’s a straightforward experience with none of the foo-foo accoutrements of the modern age. There are no waxings, facials, highlights or appointments. Just great haircuts and great conversation. When you walk out of the barbershop with a sharp haircut, you can’t help but feel a little manly swagger creep into your step.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man

“Living in a very cynical age, we’re not used to such unabashed, guileless sincerity.”
― Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness - Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues