Barry Michels > Quotes

“We'd like to imagine we can make evil disappear in one, decisive victory. But evil won't cooperate, it reappears endlessly. You attain Goodness by transforming it every time it returns. That's what Goodness is: the ceaseless commitment to transform evil.”
― Barry Michels, Coming Alive: 4 Tools to Defeat Your Inner Enemy, Ignite Creative Expression, and Unleash Your Soul's Potential

“The future may bring you darkness, but it can't take away your ability to create light.”
― Michels Barry

“Nietzsche's statement ("Whatever does not kill me makes me stronger") makes it sound like adversity itself makes you stronger. It doesn't. Inner strength comes only to those who /move forward/ in the face of adversity.”
― Barry Michels, The Tools

“What if every bad thing that’s ever happened to you—including every problem you’ve ever had—was there, in your life, to get you in touch with abilities you never knew you had? And what if there were specific procedures that led you directly to those new abilities?”
― Barry Michels, The Tools: Transform Your Problems into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity

“It is a tragedy to die with your song unsung.”
― Barry Michels, The Tools

“The stronger I got, the more my perspective shifted, and for the first time I saw that constantly criticizing myself was actually convenient and selfish. It gave me the perfect excuse to be obsessed with myself.”
― Barry Michels, Coming Alive

“Deprivation is a portal into more life. Not only can you tolerate it, it’s the pathway to living more fully than you ever thought possible. Once you can live through it, deprivation frees you from being enslaved to your impulses.”
― Barry Michels, Coming Alive