Vahn Parsons > Vahn's Quotes

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”
― Benjamin Graham

“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.”
― Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

“Do nothing that is of no use”
― Musashi Miyamoto, Book of Five Rings

“All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you.”
― Joseph Campbell

“The only defense against the world is a thorough knowledge of it.”
― John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
― James Madison, U.S. Constitution (Saddlewire)

“Discipline equals freedom.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win

“Truth - more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality - is the essential foundation for producing good outcomes.”
― Ray Dalio

“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.”
― Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor

“An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative.”
― Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor

“Individual Ambition Serves the Common Good.”
― Adam Smith

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.”
― Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Books 1-3

“What is prudence in the conduct of every private family can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom.”
― Adam Smith

“You needn't settle for a mediocre life just because the people around you did.”
― Joshua Fields Millburn, Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life

“Five Values that allow us to live a meaningful life: 1. Health 2. Relationships 3. Passions 4. Growth 5. Contribution”
― Joshua Fields Millburn, Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life

“Ultimately, minimalism is the thing that gets us past the things so we can focus on life’s most important things—which actually aren’t things at all.”
― Joshua Fields Millburn, Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Ability is of little account without opportunity.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune