Quotes I've found interesting

Deliberately designing one’s life isn’t only possible. It’s imperative.

@intentionally,   Twitter

I consider myself to be a man of principle. But, what man does not? Even the cutthroat, I have noticed, considers his actions "moral" after a fashion.

Brandon Sanderson,   Mistborn

You deserve moments like that. Moments where you watch the snow fall. Moments where you sit quietly with a book. Moments where you look out the train window, not on a conference call, not checking email, not wondering how long until you arrive in the city, but a moment to check in with yourself, to think about your life and what you want to do with it. Moments with loved ones. Moments where you are grateful, connected, happy, creative, in the zone—doing whatever it is that you do best.  When the Stoics talk about stillness, they aren’t talking about some abstract notion. They are talking about maybe the most important thing you can be doing in your life. They are saying that all the “work” you are doing, all the thoughts you’re expending trying to get ahead, trying to force a breakthrough, are pointless.  The real way to charge ahead is to slow down. To clear your mind. To rejoice in perfect stillness, free of the future and the past, fully present and locked in. You can do it. You deserve that.

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic Email, 4/23/2021

Is time you enjoyed wasting really wasted time?

Neil Parischa  

When so much is being thrown at you, when there is so much you could be thinking about or doing, the strength to tune it out and do the one thing that must be done is essential.

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic Email, 4/16/2021

Small things were important. Seconds were small things, and if you heaped enough of those on top of one another, they became a man's life.

Brandon Sanderson,   Towers of Midnight

In every situation, you can find a better story to tell yourself about the person who cut you off in traffic, about the cashier in the checkout line you’re stuck in, about the email you still haven’t gotten a reply to, about the player who isn’t performing the way you need them to.  You just need to be aware enough of the circumstance and of your mind’s own tendency to react, in order to consider other options, to see other handles, to ask, “is this the only story?”

Ryan Holiday,   Daily Stoic Email, 4/14/2022

Excess in anything becomes a fault.

Seneca  

Don't just say that you have read books.  Show that through them you have learned to think better.

Epictetus  

Burnout isn't the number of hours you work. It's too much effort on things that are against your core interests and values.

Sarah Drasner,   Twitter