Home > Work > Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life
181 " Life places limits on all of us. Yet even under the severest limits, we can still struggle valiantly, and in that struggle reach new heights of nobility and wisdom. "
― Eric Greitens , Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life
182 " Savor the flashes of wonder that light your life, "
183 " In the long run, though, deprivation of purpose is as destructive as deprivation of sleep. Without purpose, we can survive - but we cannot flourish. "
184 " Some people are made stronger by suffering. Others are defeated. The difference is resilience. "
185 " We all need something to struggle against and to struggle for. The aim in life is not to avoid struggles, but to have the right ones; not to avoid worry, but to care about the right things; not live without fear, but to confront worthy fears with force and passion. "
186 " We should be, in part, beginners for our entire lives. Beginning anew refreshes the habit of learning. "
187 " If you can fix something that needs to be fixed, go ahead and fix it. But real leadership is most often needed where simple solutions have already been tried and have failed. When things are hard, sometimes the best thing you can do is to drown what’s wrong in a sea of what’s right. "
188 " So you ask yourself: Am I willing to take responsibility for my life, in word and in deed? If not, your chances of living a rich and fulfilling life are almost zero. If so, you have the potential for a joyous journey ahead. "
189 " So let’s accept what must be accepted, without letting our acceptance justify inaction. Don’t "
190 " The new has no special claim on the true. "
191 " First, many critics are cowards. Not only do they snipe at lives that they are unwilling to live themselves, but they’ll mouth off for years and never once have the courage to sit down with you, face to face, and tell you what they think. If you let them direct what you do, you are turning your life over to cowards. Second, "
192 " What happens to us becomes part of us. Resilient people do not bounce back from hard experiences; they find healthy ways to integrate them into their lives. In "
193 " You can put off the life you want to live until you wake up to find that it’s too late. "
194 " death is like the sun. It infuses every part of our lives, but it doesn’t make sense to stare at it. "
195 " Education aims to change what you know. Training aims to change who you are. "
196 " Any nation that draws too great a distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools. "
197 " All of this wisdom belongs to us. It doesn’t belong to experts or professional scholars or people who spend their days reading books. It belongs to any one of us who is willing to go out and get it. "
198 " I can’t speak for Aeschylus or Epictetus or Aristotle. But I am convinced of this: they would have hated having their wisdom confined to classrooms and textbooks. This is wisdom about how to live. And it’s your property as much as anyone’s. It is yours. Take it. Use it. "
199 " Clarity of purpose creates perspective. "
200 " When people have a shared commitment, differences and disagreements don’t disappear, but they can be seen in a new light. "