Mark > Mark's Quotes

“Know thyself.”
― Thales

“Know thyself.”
― Socrates

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“I don't judge the quality of my decisions by the outcome”
― Larry E. Swedroe, The Incredible Shrinking Alpha: How to Be a Successful Investor Without Picking Winners

“The capitalist and consumerist ethics are two sides of the same coin, a merger of two commandments. The supreme commandment of the rich is ‘Invest!’ The supreme commandment of the rest of us is ‘Buy!’ The capitalist–consumerist ethic is revolutionary in another respect. Most previous ethical systems presented people with a pretty tough deal. They were promised paradise, but only if they cultivated compassion and tolerance, overcame craving and anger, and restrained their selfish interests. This was too tough for most. The history of ethics is a sad tale of wonderful ideals that nobody can live up to. Most Christians did not imitate Christ, most Buddhists failed to follow Buddha, and most Confucians would have caused Confucius a temper tantrum. In contrast, most people today successfully live up to the capitalist–consumerist ideal. The new ethic promises paradise on condition that the rich remain greedy and spend their time making more money and that the masses give free reign to their cravings and passions and buy more and more. This is the first religion in history whose followers actually do what they are asked to do. How though do we know that we'll really get paradise in return? We've seen it on television.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, קיצור תולדות האנושות

“happiness does not really depend on objective conditions of either wealth, health or even community. Rather, it depends on the correlation between objective conditions and subjective expectations.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“While the world may be large, complex, and hard, and unfair; it is also knowable. It can be understood. Once understood, it can be directed, controlled, and improved.”
― Ryan North

“becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs”
― James Clear, Atomic Habits

“your focus should be on becoming a type of person you want to be, not a specific goal”
― James Clear, Atomic Habits

“pugnacity, greed, brutality, and sexual readiness were advantages in the struggle for existence. Probably every vice was once a virtue”
― Will Durant, Ariel Durant

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.”
― Maya Angelou

“we must not expect the world to improve much faster than ourselves”
― Will Durant, Ariel Durant, Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God

“everyone lives in a world of his own. The world in which a man lives shapes itself chiefly on the way in which he looks at it”
― Robert Greene, The Laws of Human Nature

“Ideas as things to play with; if you hold onto them for too long, they become something dead...connecting to the world is more important than holding onto your ego”
― Robert Greene, The Laws of Human Nature

“it is better to act that to wish that we had. It is better to suck than to not to suck at all”
― Karen Rinaldi, It's Great to Suck at Something: The Unexpected Joy of Wiping Out and What It Can Teach Us About Patience, Resilience, and the Stuff that Really Matters

“The key to success is not never having failures, but learning from your failures. You should first let yourself really feel and experience the failure; the terror, shame, disappointment, disillusionment, and exhaustion. Make sure you think about the failure; understand it. Be clear about what was your role and what wasn't your role. Be honest about what you did wrong or would do differently. Then you can move forward, and rebuild.”
― Bryan Callen

“at the end of the day, the narratives, myths, and frameworks you use to make sense of the world are only approximations, they are never the truth. If you are able to pick the most suitable one for the moment or your situation , by reframing, this is an essential skill for survival in a fast changing and uncertain world.”
― Bryan Callen

“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“Do not be ashamed of help.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: 'What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?' You would be ashamed to confess it! And then remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present, and the power of this is much diminished if you take it in isolation and call your mind to task if it thinks that it cannot stand up to it when taken on its own.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
― Marcus Aurelius , Meditations

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Do not be afraid of your difficulties.Do not wish you could be in other circumstances than you are. For when you have made the best of an adversity, it becomes the stepping stone to a splendid opportunity.”
― H.P. Blavatsky

“No man can swim unless he enters deep water.”
― Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Studies in Occultism; A Series of Reprints from the Writings of H. P. Blavatsky No. 1: Practical Occultism—Occultism versus the Occult Arts—The Blessings of Publicity

“I would rather my students drink knowledge from a running stream than a stagnant pool”
― Howard Hendricks

“the key to success is self confidence as a learner and the willingness to keep learning”
― Bill Gates

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
― Bill Gates