There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
Ernest Hemingway

Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence.
It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity.
And above all, it takes a willingness to try.
Atul Gawande

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
Carl Rogers

Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter.
Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.
Richard Feynman

Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.
Daniel Gilbert

You have power over your mind – not outside events.
Realise this, and you will find strength.
Marcus Aurelius

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
Maya Angelou

You always own the option of having no opinion.
There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control.
These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.
Marcus Aurelius

Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.
Leonardo da Vinci

It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone when they get caught in the rain!
Some will run with their hands over their heads, others will smile and take a deep breath
while enjoying the wind. What does that say about one’s relationship to discomfort?
The reaction to surprise? The need for control?
Josh Waitzkin

Forgetting is a piercing wound, keen as the first loss.
Lucas O’Connor

It’s silly to try and escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable.
Just try to escape your own.
Marcus Aurelius

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman

We need to feel a little bit lost somewhere, physically or intellectually, at least once a day.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

If in doubt, just walk until your day becomes interesting.
Rolf Potts

Treat everyone as if they might be going through something rough that you don’t know about.
Chris Brogan

Nothing is more exhausting than the task that is never started.
Gretchen Rubin

I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive believe that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping stone just right,
you won’t have to die.
Anne Lamott

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog,
conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall,
set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone,
solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer,
cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.
Robert Heinlein

The universe is not hostile, nor yet is it friendly. It is simply indifferent.
JH Holmes

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights,
but you can make the whole trip that way.
EL Doctorow

Who says you need to wait until you ‘feel like’ doing something in order to start doing it?
The problem, from this perspective, isn’t that you don’t feel motivated; it’s that you imagine you need to feel motivated.
Oliver Burkeman

What I learned on my own I still remember.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past.
Anne Lamott

Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.
Anne Lamott

We don’t get fat because we overeat; we overeat because we’re getting fat.
Gary Taubes

Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it.
Joshua Foer

If in doubt, castle.
Kurt Vonnegut, Sr

Hearing other people’s uncensored opinions of you is an unpleasant reminder that you’re just another person in the world,
and everyone else does not always view you in the forgiving light that you hope they do,
making all allowances, always on your side.
There’s something existentially alarming about finding out how little room we occupy,
and how little allegiance we command, in other people’s heads.
Tim Kreider