The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
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Ryan Holiday
Notes
“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”
“The Things which hurt, instruct.”
Benjamin Franklin
There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.
Focusing exclusively on what is in our power magnifies and enhances our power.
Socrates had a mean, nagging wife; he always said that being married to her was good practice for philosophy.
Excellence is a matter of steps. Excelling at this one, then that one, and then the one after that.
Everything is a chance to do and be your best. Only self-absorbed assholes think they are too good for whatever their current station requires.
Scratch the complaining. No waffling. No submitting to powerlessness or fear. You can’t just run home to Mommy. How are you going to solve this problem? How are you going to get around the rules that hold you back?
You’ll have far better luck toughening yourself up than you ever will trying to take the teeth out of a world that is—at best—indifferent to your existence.
Mike Tyson, who, reflecting on the collapse of his fortune and fame, told a reporter, “If you’re not humble, life will visit humbleness upon you.”