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101 " To work through pain is not to make it disappear, but to make it mean something different for us—to turn it into wisdom. "
― Eric Greitens , Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life
102 " You can’t say there shouldn’t be poisonous serpents—that’s the way life is. But in the field of action, if you see a poisonous serpent about to bite somebody, you kill it. That’s not saying no to the serpent. That’s saying no to that situation.” So let’s accept what must be accepted, without letting our acceptance justify inaction. "
103 " civic life, learn "
104 " Extreme recklessness is dangerous. But extreme caution is dangerous in its own way. "
105 " Good teachers and trainers know that the exercise of power is a responsibility: "
106 " IDENTITYACTIONFEELINGSYou begin by asking, "Who am I going to be?" You decided to be courageous again. So what's next? Act that way. Act with courage. And here comes the part that's so simple it's easy to miss: the way you act will shape the way you feel. You act with courage and immediately your fears start to shrink and you begin to grow. "
107 " IDENTITYACTIONFEELINGSYou begin by asking, "Who am I going to be?" You decided to be courageous again. So what's next? Act that way. Act with courage. And here comes the part that's so simple it's easy to miss: the way you act will shape the way you feel. You act with courage and immediately your fears start to shrink and you begin to grow. If you want to feel differently, act differently. "
108 " There is only one road to true human greatness: the road through suffering. —ALBERT EINSTEIN "
109 " You’ll understand your own life better, and the lives of others better, if you stop looking for critical decisions and turning points. Your life builds not by dramatic acts, but by accumulation. "
110 " Resilience—the willingness and ability to endure hardship and become better by it—is a habit that sinks its roots in the soil of security. The child who is always protected from harm will never be resilient. At the same time, the child who is never loved will rarely be resilient. "
111 " The more responsibility people take, the more resilient they are likely to be. The less responsibility people take—for their actions, for their lives, for their happiness—the more likely it is that life will crush them. At the root of resilience is the willingness to take responsibility for results. "
112 " Give yourself the freedom to live a life that’s balanced—not like a seesaw but like a beautiful work of art. "
113 " As a practical matter, the Greeks usually did not “read” philosophy in the way that you are reading this letter—silently and to yourself. Reading philosophy meant reading aloud to others; practicing philosophy meant living in a community. "
114 " He was a guy who almost always listened intently—maybe too intently—to what was going on around him. But you put one beer in him and he went deaf. "
115 " Your purpose will not be found; it will be forged. "
116 " Resilience is not a path to perfection. Instead, we seek to be resilient in the face of life’s imperfect reality. "
117 " Be less concerned with what you have than with what you are, "
118 " Sleeping, eating, exercising - these actions shape how you feel. Acting with compassion, courage, grace - these actions also shape how you feel...The question we almost never ask, however, is the only one that really matters: How: "how do you do that? How do you make yourself depressed every morning?" That sounds like a harsh thing to say to someone who is down. It certainly is a hard question to ask. The only thing harsher is to not ask the question. When we fail to ask that last question of people we care about - or when we fail to ask it ourselves - we fail to give the struggling person the thing he or she needs most to control...When we feel miserable - even when we feel you're going to die - that's not the end of the story. It's time to start asking the hard questions. How much of your pain is out there in the world? How much is in your mind? What is within your power to change? If the feelings you have are killing you, how much can you change them? "
119 " It’s easy to find people willing to give you advice. It’s hard to find people with advice worth giving. "
120 " While fear can often be your friend, excuses are almost always your enemy. "