Stuff About Things #29

“I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.”
     ― Hafiz

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I'm looking for the truth,’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.”
     — Robert M. Pirsig

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's a day you've had everything to do and you've done it.”
     ― Margaret Thatcher

“I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.”
     ― Pearl S. Buck
 
“It is true that I grew up in Austria without plumbing. It is true that I moved to America alone with just a gym bag. And it is true that I worked as a bricklayer and invested in some real estate to become a millionaire before I ever swung the sword in Conan the Barbarian. But it is not true that I am self-made.... To accept that mantle discounts every person and every piece of advice that got me here.... My life was built on a foundation of parents, coaches, and teachers; of kind souls who lent couches or gym back rooms where I could sleep; of mentors who shared wisdom and advice; of idols who motivated me from the pages of magazines (and, as my life grew, from personal interaction).... I have never been shy about seeking wisdom from others to pour fuel on my fire.... I've always treated the world as my classroom, soaking up lessons and stories to fuel my path forward. I hope you do the same.”
     ― Arnold Schwarzenegger from Tim Ferriss's Tools of Titans

“Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
     ― Maya Angelou

“A healthier future is every tiny we step we take, or every little rep.... There is no gimmick. There is no shortcut. There is no magic pill. Everyone's fitness journey will be unique, but a healthy lifestyle takes commitment, patience, and motivation.... I had to work my way back from the bottom this year, and I learned a lot along the way. After I underwent open-heart surgery this spring, I had to use a walker. I had to do breathing exercises five times a day to retain my lungs. I was frustrated and angry, and in my worst moments, I couldn't see the way back to my old self.”
     ― Arnold Schwarzenegger, 71 years old

“We may be in the universe as dogs and cats are in our libraries, seeing the books and hearing the conversation, but having no inkling of the meaning of it all.”
     — William James

“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about being heard.”
     — Allen Ginsberg

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
     — Martin Luther

“Don't play what's there, play what's not there.”
     — Miles Davis

“I'm a blend of an introvert and an extrovert. There are times when I gotta have interaction with people and I get energy that way, and there are times when I need to have some quiet time to just shut the door to read, think, that kinda stuff.”
     — Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart

“We’re tight-fisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.”
     — Seneca

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”
     — Dr. Seuss

“It is easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking, than it is to think yourself into a new way of acting.”
     — Millard Fuller

“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

“Work, look for peace and calm in work: you will find it nowhere else.”
     — Dmitri Mendeleev

“To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.”
     ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Happiness does not lead to gratitude. Gratitude leads to happiness.”
     — Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”
     — Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, father of quantum theory