The soul is like a bowl of water, and our impressions are like the ray of light falling upon the water. When the water is troubled, it appears that the light itself is moved too, but it isn’t. So, when a person loses their composure it isn’t their skills and virtues that are troubled, but the spirit in which they exist, and when that spirit calms down so do those things.” – EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.3.20–22.
The foundation of a free country is that your freedom to swing your fist ends where someone else’s nose begins.
Success is intoxicating, yet to sustain it requires sobriety. We can’t keep learning if we think we already know everything.
Failure and adversity are relative and unique to each of us. Almost without exception, this is what life does: it takes our plans and dashes them to pieces. Sometimes once, sometimes lots of times.
Florida Scott-Maxwell’s Stoic diary during her terminal illness, The Measure of My Days, is one. Seneca’s famous words to his family and friends, who had broken down and begged with his executioners, is another.
You should never have to ask yourself, But what am I supposed to do now? Because you know the answer: your job.
Appearances are deceiving. Having authority is not the same as being an authority.
Almost without exception, this is what life does: it takes our plans and dashes them to pieces. Sometimes once, sometimes lots of times.
What stood in the way became the way. What impeded action in some way advanced it. It’s inspiring. It’s moving. It’s an art we need to bring to our own lives. Not everyone looks at obstacles – often the same ones you and I face – and sees reason to despair. In fact, they see the opposite. They see a problem with a ready solution. They see a chance to test and improve themselves. Nothing stands in their way. Rather, everything guides them on the way.
Our own path, whatever we aspire to, will in some ways be defined by the amount of nonsense we are willing to deal with.
Don’t reject a difficult or boring moment because it is not exactly what you want. Don’t waste a beautiful moment because you are insecure or shy. Make what you can of what you have been given. Live what can be lived. That’s what excellence is. That’s what presence makes possible.
Always shun that which makes you angry.
Do your work. Do it well. Then “let go and let God.“ That’s all there needs to be.
Getting angry, getting emotional, losing restraint is a recipe for failure in the ring.
The truth is that a good routine is not only a source of great comfort and stability, it’s the platform from which stimulating and fulfilling work is possible.
This is not a book about me. But since this is a book about ego, I’m going to address a question that I’d be a hypocrite not to have thought about.
This is one of the most dangerous ironies of success – it can make us someone we never wanted to be in the first place. The Disease of Me can corrupt the most innocent climb.
John Boyd, a sort of warrior-monk who revolutionized Western military strategy in the latter half of the twentieth century, refused to take checks from defense contractors and deliberately lived in a small condo even as he advised presidents and generals. “If a man can reduce his needs to zero,” he said, “he is truly free: there is nothing that can be taken from him and nothing anyone can do to hurt him.
You don’t have to like something to master it – or to use it to some advantage. When the cause of our problem lies outside of us, we are better for accepting it and moving on. For ceasing to kick and fight against it, and coming to terms with it. The Stoics have a beautiful name for this attitude. They call it the Art of Acquiescence.
This is the true athlete – the person in rigorous training against false impressions. Remain firm, you who suffer, don’t be kidnapped by your impressions! The struggle is great, the task divine – to gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility.