To celebrate my 33rd birthday, here are 33 quotes I’ve come across in the past year that stuck out to me.
If you enjoy this, consider donating to Harbor House, which takes in women (along with their children & pets) who are victims of domestic violence.
Pursuing Success
"Often, our most intense discomfort is what precedes and necessitates thinking in a way we have never conceived of before. That new awareness creates possibilities that would never exist had we not been forced to learn something new." — Brianna Wiest
“Excellence for most of us blossoms and flourishes for only a brief flicker of time. Either because of human frailty, maturation, or simple outright exhaustion, it’s difficult to perform at a crescendo for an extended period. Very few stay at the top for very long.” — Bill Gross
“Remember that nobody accepts randomness in his own success, only his failure.” — Nassim Taleb
“Playing the long game requires moves that don’t map to traditional measures of productivity.” — Scott Belsky
"you are not going to find true happiness on the hedonic treadmill of your professional life. You’ll find it in things that are deeply ordinary: enjoying a walk or a conversation with a loved one, instead of working that extra hour, for example." — Arthur Brooks
Handling Success
"It’s hard to get really depressed until your dreams come true. Once your dreams come true and you realize you feel the same way you did before then you get a feeling of hopelessness." — Rick Rubin
“Money and fame can create psychological prisons which may worsen mental health conditions.” — Esther Crawford
“When I got everything that I wanted, I think I was the most empty that I've ever felt inside.” — Johnny Manziel
"Winning didn’t make me enough, or make me beloved in some permanent way. That’s what I wanted. I wanted assurance I would be loved. But it was temporary. The love from success is always temporary. You have to find satisfaction with yourself on your average day." — Lauren Fleshman
“Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.” — W. Somerset Maugham
“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” ― Bertrand Russell
“I think “accomplishments” are traps. Accomplishments, by their very definition, exist only in the past or future—which are not even real things. Pride is the worst of the seven sins and it is closely related to past and future accomplishments.” — Patrick O'Shaughnessy
“The most dangerous story that’s ever been told is happiness lies just beyond achievement. And you can spend your whole life following that story just to find that there really wasn’t a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.” — Jack Raines
Relationships
“The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.” — Abigail Van Buren
“When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” - Maya Angelou
“Character is fate.” — Heraclites
“I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, not to hate them, but to understand them.” — Baruch Spinoza
“Real love is accepting other people the way they are without trying to change them.” — Don Miguel Ruiz
Sports
“We came up short. I think the beautiful part about it is everyone experiences different pains, everyone experiences different agonies of life, but you decide if you want to learn from it. You decide if you want that to be a teachable moment. I know I do.” — Jalen Hurts
“If Denver wants to tip off on Mt. Everest, we’ll do that.” — Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on impact of Denver altitude
Living a Fulfilling Life
"No one is going to remember you in 100 years." - Ecclesiastes
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.” — Joseph Campbell
"In life, we must choose our regrets." — Christopher Hitchens
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." — Epicurus
“To a disciple who was forever complaining about others, the Master said, ‘If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.’” — Anthony de Mello
“Life is like reading a novel or running a marathon. It’s not so much about reaching a goal but rather about the journey itself and the experiences along the way.” — Ed Thorp
“Inheritance is so much more than what you receive in a will or a trust. It’s more than money, property, or trinkets. A good father understands that inheritance is passed on in living even more than in dying. It’s delivered not in a lump sum but in a daily deposit of presence and care. It’s an inheritance of personhood.” — ???
Beliefs & Decision-Making
“If your opinions on one subject can be predicted from your opinions on another, you may be in the grip of an ideology. When you truly think for yourself, your conclusions will not be predictable.” — Kevin Kelly
“It's OK to be wrong; it's unforgivable to stay wrong.” — Marty Zweig
“Fear distorts our ability to see opportunities as they are.” — Gio Valiante
“Beliefs are hypotheses to be tested, not treasures to be guarded.” — Philip Tetlock
The Wire
“Americans are stupid people by and large. We pretty much believe what we’re told.” — The Wire
“Shame is some tricky shit, ain't it? Makes you feel like you want to change, and then beats you back down when you think you can't.” — Walon
+ The Quote I Continue to Remind Myself
“Tomorrow's never promised.” — Anthony Benedith