Quotes.

Lines I keep close. Some I return to when the ground shakes; others when I need a reminder of what to build, how to walk, or why to risk.

• 01

  “Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a feather bed.”

• 02

  “The mind projects; the heart, the spirit, and the soul act.”

• 03

  “When you are doing something for yourself, or your best friend or family, you are not going to cheese out. If you do not love something, you are not going to go the extra mile, work the extra weekend, challenge the status quo as much.”

• 04

  “This is how civilization declines. They quit taking risks, their arteries harden. Every day there are more referees and fewer doers.”

• 05

  “As you walk, the quality of each step compounds into the larger gains: direction takes you from A to B, breathing lets you enjoy, if only for a moment, where you are. Do not pay too much attention to speed.”

• 06

  “Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realise one's full potential as a human being.”

• 07

  “This, ladies and gentlemen, is the true wealth of nations.”

• 08

  “You will see easily that, of things to come, of things present, and of things past, enjoyment and suffering are nothing but smoke.”

• 09

  “If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory is certain; if you know Heaven and Earth, you can make your victory complete.”

• 10

  “While causal reasoning focuses on expected return, effectual reasoning emphasizes affordable loss, accepting and putting to productive use the loss aversion that is almost always already there.”

• 11

  “While causal reasoning depends upon competitive analyses, effectual reasoning is built upon strategic partnerships. A strong argument for working in groups, academically, professionally, personally.”

• 12

  “While causal reasoning urges the exploitation of pre-existing knowledge and prediction, effectual reasoning stresses the leveraging of contingencies.”

• 13

  “No amount of anxiety will change the things that are going to happen.”

• 14

  “The hero/king who establishes, embodies and updates the social world is also the same force that establishes, embodies and updates the intrapsychic world, the personality, and the one act of update cannot be distinguished from the other. In improving the world, the hero improves himself; in improving himself, he sets an example for the world.”

A commonplace book, kept honestly.