It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. --Niccolo Machiavelli
Largest Burden
The purpose of life is finding the largest burden that you can bear and bearing it. ― Jordan B. Peterson
Great Man
“A man is great by deeds, not by birth.” --Chanakya
Cannot Do, Can Do
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” --John Wooden
Improving the Universe
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. --Aldous Huxley
Suffering and Meaning
“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.” ― Viktor E. Frankl
The Last of Human Freedoms
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ― Viktor E. Frankl
Light and Darkness
“The light that you discover in your life is proportionate to the amount of the darkness you are willing to forthrightly confront.” ― Jordan B. Peterson
Build Me a Son
“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.
“Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee - and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.
“Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.
“Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.
“And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the weakness of true strength.
“Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.’” —General Douglas MacArthur, a prayer for his son
Wait for Others to Change
“If you wait for others to change, you’ll wait forever.” —Dr. Stephen Marmer; December 9, 2022; The Dennis Prager Show
5 Behaviors Guaranteed to Increase Happiness: #3 of 5
“View yourself as actively capable of making changes in your life, rather than as a passive, helpless victim. Make use of your own agency. Take responsibility for being the architect of much of your own misery, and choose to build success instead.” —Dr. Stephen Marmer; December 9, 2022; The Dennis Prager Show
Breaking Strong
The world breaks everyone, and, afterward, some are strong at the broken places. --Ernest Hemingway
Pessimist, Optimist, Realist
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” --William Arthur Ward
Up and Down
“The man who will get up will be helped up; and the man who will not get up will be allowed to stay down.” —Frederick Douglass
Price of Greatness
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” —Winston Churchill
If I Am
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” —Rabbi Hillel
Most Common Tendencies
“One of the most common tendencies of human nature is that of placing responsibility on some external agency for sins we have committed or mistakes we have made.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.
It is Not the Critic Who Counts
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt
Victim Empowered
“A victim is not empowered by the actions of others. A victim is empowered by their own determination to not live as a victim.” —Steven R. Hobbs