“We go through our days responding and reacting, but it’s rare to really pause and ask: Is this thing I’m about to do consistent with what I believe? Or, better: Is this the kind of thing the person I would like to be should do? The work of living is to set standards and then not compromise them.”
"Control your perceptions. Direct your actions properly. Willingly accept what’s outside your control."
- Ryan Holiday
Awareness
"We are not in control of pain. No matter how hard we try. Not of the cause or the duration – only the response."
- Ryan Holiday
Awareness
"The purpose of reading is not just raw knowledge. It’s that it is part of the human experience. It helps you find meaning, understand yourself, and make your life better."
- Ryan Holiday
Personal Growth
"Doing great work is a struggle. It's draining, it's demoralizing, it's frightening - not always, but it can feel that way when we're deep in the middle of it."
- Ryan Holiday
Hard Work
"You will come across obstacles in life—fair and unfair. and you will discover, time and time again, that what matters most is not what these obstacles are, but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure."
- Ryan Holiday
Resilience
"The worth of a person lies in their character, not in their looks."
- Beauty and the Beast
Integrity
"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Integrity
"Be content to act, and leave the talking to others."
- Baltasar Gracian
Integrity
"Fake people have an image to maintain. Real people just don’t care."
- Hachiman Hikigaya
Integrity
"What is right? What is wrong? In this mixed up world, deciding what is right and wrong is not easy. You can’t just go by somebody else’s rules. If you let yourself be controlled like that, you’ll just become a puppet that can’t make decisions on its own. You have to live by your rules."
- Gintoki Sakata
Integrity