Ryan Holiday Quotes

Don't wait. Don't tell yourself you'll warm up to it. Don't tell yourself you'll get this other stuff out of the way and then...

No. Do it now.

We should take learning seriously, but never ourselves.

Be fully present.
Empty our mind of preconceptions.
Take our time.
Sit quietly and reflect.

Some ways to find stillness right now:

- Go for a solo nature walk
- Write in a journal
- Lock into a creative activity
- Vigorous exercise: run laps, swim
- Help someone else

People think you have to travel for peace, but Marcus Aurelius says we can turn inward at any moment.

You want to think clearly tomorrow?
You want to handle the small things right?
You want to have the energy to hustle?

Go to sleep.

It's easy to be grateful for the things that go well, but you have to be grateful for those that don't.

The obstacles. The frustrations. The wrong turns. The stresses and difficulties. The people who wronged you. The bad days.

Those are all opportunities to make you better.

We are a product of our teachers and our mentors. There would be no Plato without Socrates. There would be no Aristotle without Plato. There would be no Marcus Aurelius without Rusticus or Epictetus or Antoninus.

Sleep is an act of character.

Remember: No one is having less fun than an overextended, overcommitted person with debtors at their door.

History, you must understand, is not about the past. It’s a lens for understanding the present (that’s why we fight over what gets taught). It’s way of predicting, even determining the future.

One of the things that separates us from other people is our ability to be strict and self-disciplined.

Where other people are fine making excuses or taking shortcuts, we are not.

Where other people wing it or do what’s easiest, taking the path of least resistance, we don’t.

The world speaks to us, but often in no more than a whisper. Most teachers do not repeat themselves, do not beg for us to sit and be quiet and listen

Be the person who surprises others with your genuine interest in them, the respect you extend, and your disregard for unnecessary formalities or status symbols.

Your potential, the absolute best you’re capable of — that’s the metric to measure yourself against. Your standards are. Winning is not enough. People can get lucky and win. People can be assholes and win. Anyone can win. But not everyone is the best possible version of themselves.

Knowledge and experience are not at odds; the latter is simply another form of the former.