Ryan Holiday Quotes

Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you’re the least important person in the room — until you change that with results.

What matters to an active man is to do the right thing; whether the right thing comes to pass should not bother him. — GOETHE

The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what’s in front of us.

If you wish to improve, be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters — don’t wish to seem knowledgeable. And if some regard you as important, distrust yourself.” — EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 13a

Almost universally, the kind of performance we give on social media is positive. It’s more “Let me tell you how well things are going. Look how great I am.” It’s rarely the truth: “I’m scared. I’m struggling. I don’t know.

The future bears down upon each one of us with all the hazards of the unknown.” The only way out is through.

If the mind is disciplined, the heart turns quickly from fear to love. — JOHN CAGE

A good person dyes events with his own color . . . and turns whatever happens to his own benefit.

In failure or adversity, it’s so easy to hate. Hate defers blame. It makes someone else responsible. It’s a distraction too; we don’t do much else when we’re busy getting revenge or investigating the wrongs that have supposedly been done to us.

We have to get better at thinking, deliberately and intentionally, about the big questions. On the complicated things. On understanding what’s really going on with a person, or a situation, or with life itself.

Everything starts at zero. Progress is made one small step, one crappy page every day.

We should not trust the masses who say only the free can be educated, but rather the lovers of wisdom who say that only the educated are free.” —

If we can focus on making clear what parts of our day are within our control and what parts are not, we will not only be happier, we will have a distinct advantage over other people who fail to realize they are fighting an unwinnable battle.

As a young basketball player, Bill Bradley would remind himself, “When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win.

Why do you think that great leaders and thinkers throughout history have “gone out into the wilderness” and come back with inspiration, with a plan, with an experience that puts them on a course that changes the world? It’s because in doing so they found perspective, they understood the larger picture in a way that wasn’t possible in the bustle of everyday life. Silencing the noise around them, they could finally hear the quiet voice they needed to listen to.