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Ryan Holiday

1,219 Quotes
Author of 'Ego is the Enemy' & 'The Obstacle Is The Way'.
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1,219 quotes curated by Ryan Holiday:

“You take things you don't control and define them as 'good' or 'bad.' And so of course when the 'bad' things happen, or the 'good' ones don't, you blame the gods and feel hatred for the people responsible–or those you decide to make responsible. Much of our bad behavior stems from trying to applying those criteria.”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations
Tagged: Impressions
“Stop spinning around like a top... Whenever a representation presents itself, confine yourself to what corresponds exactly to reality.”
— Pierre Hadot, The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Tagged: Impressions
“Don't let the force of an impression when it first hits you knock you off your feet; just say to it:

Hold on a moment; let me see who you are and what you represent. Let me put you to the test.”
— Epictetus, Discourses, Fragments, Handbook (Oxford Worlds Classics)
Tagged: Impressions
“The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out.
There are branches in the path? Then go around them.
That's all you need to know. Nothing more. Don't demand to know 'why something exists.'”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations
Tagged: Impressions
“Does what's happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straight-fowardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person's nature to fulfill itself?

So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune...”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations
Tagged: Impressions
“If you take care of [this] and identify with it, you will never be clocked or frustrated; you won't have to complain and never will need to blame or flatter anyone.”
— Epicurus, The Essential Epicurus (Great Books in Philosophy)
Tagged: Impressions
“Power is not what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.”
— Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals
Tagged: Impressions
“As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be–it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it, to what we think it should be. That means working in the system.”
— Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals
Tagged: Impressions
“Objectivity is a virtue and one that is very difficult to practice.”
— Pierre Hadot, The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Tagged: Impressions
“External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.

If the problem is something in your own character, who's stopping you from setting your mind straight?”
— Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations
Tagged: Impressions