“
The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. It's as though everything you do is multiplied by 50 in order to surpass those with a head-start. I was never capable of slacking when at the threshold of failure.
”
”
Criss Jami (Killosophy)
“
For Rat Kiley, I think, facts were formed by sensation, not the other way around, and when you listened to one of his stories, you'd find yourself performing rapid calculations in your head, subtracting superlatives, figuring the square root of an absolute and then multiplying by maybe.
”
”
Tim O'Brien (The Things They Carried)
“
Rhiannon's Law #22. You can't lie to yourself, so don't bother trying. Doing so only multiplies your douchebag level to the umpteenth power and confirms what others have been saying for years - that you are an idiot.
”
”
J.A. Saare (The Renfield Syndrome (Rhiannon's Law, #2))
“
There are 1,198,500,000 people alive now in China.
To get a feel for what that means, simply take yourself - in all your singularity, importance, complexity, and love - and multiply by 1,198,500,000.
See? Nothing to it.
”
”
Annie Dillard (For the Time Being: Essays (PEN Literary Award Winner))
“
Instead of telling the world What it is supposed to do, Why don't you immediately do it yourself? In this way, I assure you, Your happiness will be surprisingly multiplied.
”
”
Sri Chinmoy
“
Whatever you give attention to will grow, magnify, and multiply in your experience.
”
”
Joseph Murphy (Believe in Yourself)
“
Your role as a manager is not to do the work yourself, even if you are the best at it, because that will only take you so far. Your role is to improve the purpose, people, and process of your team to get as high a multiplier effect on your collective outcome as you can.
”
”
Julie Zhuo (The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You)
“
What? You seek something? You wish to multiply yourself tenfold, a hundredfold? You seek followers? Seek zeros!
”
”
Friedrich Nietzsche
“
You are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, a creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me. I am perishing already, I am failing, I am passing away.
In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever—for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!
Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago—centuries, ages, eons, ago!—for you have existed, companionless, through all the eternities.
Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane—like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell—mouths mercy and invented hell—mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!
You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks—in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier.
"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream—a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!
”
”
Mark Twain (The Mysterious Stranger)
“
What? You search? You would multiply yourself by ten, by a hundred? You seek followers? Seek zeros!
”
”
Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols)
“
For instance? Well, for instance, what it means to be a man. In a city. In a century. In transition. In a mass. Transformed by science. Under organized power. Subject to tremendous controls. In a condition caused by mechanization. After the late failure of radical hopes. In a society that was no community and devalued the person. Owing to the multiplied power of numbers which made the self negligible. Which spent military billions against foreign enemies but would not pay for order at home. Which permitted savagery and barbarism in its own great cities. At the same time, the pressure of human millions who have discovered what concerted efforts and thoughts can do. As megatons of water shape organisms on the ocean floor. As tides polish stones. As winds hollow cliffs. The beautiful supermachinery opening a new life for innumerable mankind. Would you deny them the right to exist? Would you ask them to labor and go hungry while you yourself enjoyed old-fashioned Values? You—you yourself are a child of this mass and a brother to all the rest. or else an ingrate, dilettante, idiot. There, Herzog, thought Herzog, since you ask for the instance, is the way it runs.
”
”
Saul Bellow (Herzog)
“
Life is a linear equation in which you can't cross multiply! If you think you can do it, you can do it. If you think you can't do it, you can't do it. It's a simple formula!
”
”
Israelmore Ayivor (The Great Hand Book of Quotes)
“
Making disciples is all about seeing people transformed by the power of God’s Word. If you want to see that happen in others, you need to be experiencing such transformation yourself.
”
”
Francis Chan (Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples)
“
If someone contacts you and asserts that you’re infringing on their patent, you’ll need a lawyer to shield you from the accusation that you are willfully infringing. Never, ever respond yourself. At the same time, you’re not left with whatever your lawyer tells you to do.
If you have patents of your own (which you should), disputes don’t have to come to litigation, damages, and bankruptcy. In my experience, the best way to settle IP infringement suits out of the courtroom is through cross-licensing—an agreement between all parties to give each other a license to use their patents.
”
”
JiNan George (The IP Miracle: How to Transform Ideas into Assets that Multiply Your Business)
“
And as soon as you have renounced that aim of "surviving at any price" and gone where the calm and simple people go—then imprisonment begins to transform your former character in an astonishing way. To transform it in a direction most unexpected to you.
And it would seem that in this situation feelings of malice, the disturbance of being oppressed, aimless hate, irritability, and nervousness ought to multiply. But you yourself do not notice how, with the impalpable flow of time, slavery nurtures in you the shoots of contradictory feelings.
Once upon a time you were sharply intolerant. You were constantly in a rush. And you were constantly short of time. And now you have time with interest. You are surfeited with it, with its months and its years, behind you and ahead of you—and a beneficial calming fluid pours through your blood vessels—patience.
You are acending...
Formerly you never forgave anyone. You judged people without mercy. And you praised people with equal lack of moderation. And now an understanding mildness has become the basis of your uncategorical judgements. You have come to realize your own weakness—and you can therefore understand the weakness of others. And be astonished at another's strength. And wish to possess it yourself.
The stones rustle beneath our feet. We are ascending...
With the year, armor-plated restraint covers your heart and all your skin. You do not hasten to question and you do not hasten to answer. Your tongue has lost its flexible capability for easy oscillation. Your eyes do not flash over with gladness over good tidings, nor do they darken with grief.
For you still have to verify whether that's how it is going to be. And you also have to work out—what is gladness and what is grief.
And now the rule of your life is this: Do not rejoice when you have found, do not weep when you have lost.
Your soul, which formerly was dry, now ripens with suffering. And even if you haven't come to love your neighbors in the Christian sense, you are at least learning to love those close to you.
”
”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956 (Abridged))
“
Psychology—that was one thing I knew. You don't try to scare people in
broad daylight. You wait. Because the darkness squeezes you inside
yourself, you get cut off from the outside world, the imagination
takes over. That's basic psychology. I'd pulled enough night guard to
know how the fear factor gets multiplied as you sit there hour after
hour, nobody to talk to, nothing to do but stare into the big black
hole at the center of your own sorry soul
”
”
Tim O'Brien (The Things They Carried)
“
At present, in this vicinity, the best part of the land is not private property; the landscape is not owned, and the walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come when it will be partitioned off into so-called pleasure-grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only,—when fences shall be multiplied, and man-traps and other engines invented to confine men to the public road, and walking over the surface of God’s earth shall be construed to mean trespassing on some gentleman’s grounds. To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly to exclude yourself from the true enjoyment of it. Let us improve our opportunities, then, before the evil days come.
”
”
Henry David Thoreau (Walking)
“
In all areas of your life, look for the multiplier opportunities where you can go a little further, push yourself a little harder, last a little longer, prepare a little better, and deliver a little bit more. Where can you do better and more than expected? When can you do the totally unexpected? Find as many opportunities for 'WOW,' and the level and speed of your accomplishments will astonish you... and everyone else around you.
”
”
Darren Hardy (The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success)
“
Never mind the rule, 'If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all,' because that's not the route to take. Instead, look into the mirror and say those things to yourself. Then yell those things at yourself. And multiply how much that hurts by 10. And decide, should I still say these things? And walk away.
”
”
Rachel Eovacious
“
there's a corner of your mouth, and a place that it goes. pinched and worried like you're afraid you're forgetting something. i used to hate it. used to think it was your little tic of disapproval.
but i've kissed your mouth, that corner, that place it goes, so many times now. i've memorized it. topography on the map of you, a world i'm still charting. i know it. i added it to the key. here: inches to miles. i can multiply it out, read your latitude and longitude. recite your coordinates like la rosaria.
this thing, your mouth, its place. it's what you do when you're trying not to give yourself away. not in the way that you do all the time, those empty, greedy grabs for you. i mean the truth of you. the weird, perfect shape of your heart. the one on the outside of your chest.
”
”
Casey McQuiston (Red, White & Royal Blue)
“
Books are doors that lead out into the street,” Patricia would tell her. “You learn from them, educate yourself, travel, dream, imagine, live other lives, multiply your own life a thousand times. Where can you get more for your money, Mexicanita? And they also keep all sorts of bad things at bay: ghosts, loneliness, shit like that.
”
”
Arturo Pérez-Reverte (The Queen of the South)
“
Get ahold of yourself,” I said to the woman in the mirror, but doing so felt cliché, like I was reenacting a scene from a movie, and so I started to feel like I didn’t have a self to get ahold of, or rather that I had a million selves, too many to gather. One was in the bathroom, playing a role; another, in the lab staring at my wounded mouse, an animal about whom I felt nothing at all, yet whose pain had reduced me somehow. Or multiplied me. Another self was still thinking about my mother.
”
”
Yaa Gyasi (Transcendent Kingdom)
“
Spend the most time with your best people. ... Talent is the multiplier. THe more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield. The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your most productive time. ... Persistence directed primarily toward your non-talents is self-destructive. ... You will reprimand yourself, berate yourself, and put yourself through all manner of contortions in an attempt to achieve the impossible.
”
”
Marcus Buckingham
“
Thoughts are like live bacteria. They keep multiplying inside you so much that fresh thoughts from outside don’t get space to enter. Dead thoughts come out of you along with other bodily impurities. That’s when fresh thoughts manage to enter inside. Don’t feed yourself information while body is cleaning itself.
”
”
Shunya
“
THE SIX LAWS OF WEALTH The First Law of Wealth: Keep a part of all you earn. Save at least 10% of your income. The Second Law of Wealth: Put your savings to work for you. Invest it so that it will multiply. The Third Law of Wealth: Avoid debt. The poor pay interest, while the rich earn interest. The Fourth Law of Wealth: Don’t speculate in get-rich-quick schemes. Invest in solid businesses that you understand. The Fifth Law of Wealth: Invest in yourself. Gain knowledge and skills to increase your earning power. The Sixth Law of Wealth: Safeguard your growing fortune with diversification and insurance.
”
”
Charles Conrad (The Richest Man in Babylon: Six Laws of Wealth)
“
When you seek power and control over other people, you waste energy. When you seek money or power for the sake of the ego, you spend energy chasing the illusion of happiness instead of enjoying happiness in the moment. When you seek money for personal gain only, you cut off the flow of energy to yourself, and interfere with the expression of nature’s intelligence. But when your actions are motivated by love, there is no waste of energy. When your actions are motivated by love, your energy multiplies and accumulates — and the surplus energy you gather and enjoy can be channeled to create anything that you want, including unlimited wealth.
”
”
Deepak Chopra (The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams)
“
Knowledge is akin to the Lernaean Hydra's heads, multiplying as soon as one head is severed. The more knowledge you attain, the more you find yourself searching for answers to new questions.
”
”
Giannis Delimitsos
“
when you listened to one of his stories, you’d find yourself performing rapid calculations in your head, subtracting superlatives, figuring the square root of an absolute and then multiplying by maybe.
”
”
Tim O'Brien (The Things They Carried)
“
If ten thousand people die with you, their participation in your lot will not make you be ten thousand times more hungry nor multiply the time of your agony ten thousand times. Do not let yourself be overcome by the horrible sum of human sufferings; such a sum does not exist. Neither poverty nor pain are cumulative.
”
”
Jorge Luis Borges (Labyrinths)
“
Sometimes the less you know the better, sometimes you have to delude yourself and pretend to believe in things that aren't real. Like imaginary numbers:
i² = 1
"i" is a concept, it doesn't exist. You can't multiply the same two numbers and get a negative, but we pretend it does exist. We pretend other things exist, too: Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, cryptocurrencies.
”
”
Katherine Collette (The Helpline)
“
Instead of seeing the goal, think about it using a technique called lofty questions by author Christie Marie Sheldon. Here you phrase the vision that you want for yourself as a question in the present tense. For example: Why am I so easily able to visit incredible countries? Why am I so good at making, keeping, and multiplying money? Why am I so successful in love? Why am I at my ideal weight? For many people, the phrases are easier to do than the visualization.
”
”
Vishen Lakhiani (The Code of the Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms)
“
What is dispersed
among us, which you call
the sign of blessedness
although it is, like us,
a weed, a thing
to be rooted out—
by what logic
do you hoard
a single tendril
of something you want
dead?
If there is any presence among us
so powerful, should it not
multiply, in service
of the adored garden?
You should be asking
these questions yourself,
not leaving them
to your victims. You should know
that when you swagger among us
I hear two voices speaking,
one your spirit, one
the acts of your hands.
”
”
Louise Glück (The Wild Iris)
“
Of course, the final assault on Eve’s character comes from the so-called punishment she receives: pain that is multiplied in childbirth and magnified by men who point out that with every birth women are reminded of their subordinate place and propensity to sin. Such admonishments fail to account for the difference between something that is prescriptive (what should be; i.e., punishment) versus something descriptive (what will be, i.e., result).24 Since the Bible is the result of Divine inspiration and human experience, we realize that its authors were trying to make sense of their lives, lives that in this case involved significant pain during childbirth. As readers we cannot make an uncritical leap from how these writers understood their experience to confirmation that their perceptions were the same thing as God’s will. But because numerous people have failed to make such distinctions, they overlook the powerful insight conveyed in this narrative, choosing instead to blame Eve for sin and to point to childbirth as evidence of her disobedience.
”
”
Kendra Weddle Irons (If Eve Only Knew: Freeing Yourself from Biblical Womanhood and Becoming All God Means for You to Be)
“
when Atlantic Monthly published one of Thoreau’s essays, called “Walking.” At present, in this vicinity, the best part of the land is not private property; the landscape is not owned, and the walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come when it will be partitioned off into so-called pleasure-grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only, when fences shall be multiplied, and mantraps and other engines invented to confine men to the public road, and walking over the surface of God’s earth shall be construed to mean trespassing on some gentleman’s grounds. To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly to exclude yourself from the true enjoyment of it. Let us improve our opportunities, then, before the evil days are upon us. Anthropologists estimate that early man walked twenty miles a day. Mental and physical benefits have been attributed to walking as far back as ancient times. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) described walking as one of the “Medicines of the Will.” Hippocrates, the Greek physician, called walking “man’s best medicine” and prescribed walks to treat emotional problems, hallucinations, and digestive disorders.
”
”
Ben Montgomery (Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail)
“
Having saddled yourself with laws that you *assume* will be broken, you've never found anything to do that makes better sense than punishing people for doing exactly what you expected them to do in the first place. For ten thousand years you've been making and multiplying laws that you fully expect to be broken, until now I suppose you must have literally millions of them, many of them broken millions of times a day.[...]The very officials that you elect to uphold the laws break them. And at the same time your pillars of society somehow find it possible to become indignant over the fact that some people have little respect for the law.
”
”
Daniel Quinn
“
At present, in this vicinity, the best part of the land is not private property; the landscape is not owned, and the walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come when it will be partitioned off into so-called pleasure-grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only—when fences shall be multiplied, and man-traps and other engines invented to confine men to the PUBLIC road, and walking over the surface of God's earth shall be construed to mean trespassing on some gentleman's grounds. To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly to exclude yourself from the true enjoyment of it. Let us improve our opportunities, then, before the evil days come.
”
”
Henry David Thoreau (Walking)
“
From time to time. You do not count your steps any more. For the simple reason they number each day the same. Average day in day out the same. The way being always the same. You keep count of the days and every tenth night multiply. And add. Your father's shade is not with you any more. It fell out long ago. You do not feel your footfalls any more. Unhearing unseeing you go your way. Day after day. The same way. As if there were no other any more. For you there is no other any more. You used never to halt except to make your reckoning. So as to plod from nought anew. This need removed as we have seen there is none in theory to halt any more. Save perhaps a moment at the outermost point. To gather yourself together for the return. And yet you do. As never before.
”
”
Samuel Beckett (The Complete Short Prose, 1929-1989)
“
realize all the things you are doing that are not taking you where you really want to go. It will help you see all the things you are doing that are not helping you create the results you want in your life. Those things will become more and more obvious to you, and once you get to that point, you will most likely have another powerful insight: Until you accomplish your next most Significant priority, everything else is a distraction. That brings us to the critical question you have to always be asking yourself: “Is what I’m doing right now the next most Significant use of my time?” Is it the thing that is moving you toward creating the best results? Is it the thing that is moving you toward making your greatest contribution? Is it the thing that is moving you toward making the impact you want to make?
”
”
Rory Vaden (Procrastinate on Purpose Deluxe: 5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time)
“
In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. Psalm 118:5 You must learn to call on the Lord. Don’t sit all alone or lie on the couch, shaking your head and letting your thoughts torture you. Don’t worry about how to get out of your situation or brood about your terrible life, how miserable you feel, and what a bad person you are. Instead, say, “Get a grip on yourself, you lazy bum! Fall on your knees, and raise your hands and eyes toward heaven. Read a psalm. Say the Lord’s Prayer, and tearfully tell God what you need.” This passage teaches us to call on him. Similarly, David said, “I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble” (Psalm 142:2). God wants you to tell him your troubles. He doesn’t want you to keep them to yourself. He doesn’t want you to struggle with them all alone and torture yourself. Doing this will only multiply your troubles.
”
”
Martin Luther (Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional)
“
Guilt isn’t an emotion. It’s a living, breathing organism. It’s another man living deep inside you, screaming so loud sometimes that you wish you could tear off your skin and let him escape. But you can’t. And there’s nothing you can do to silence him. Nothing at all. There are things that you think will help you. Wicked, beautiful things. Sex. Narcotics. Alcohol. They all sing their sweet siren songs to you, hoping you don’t recognize the evil underneath. They are a temptress, promising to alleviate your pain, promising you a soft, warm hug. They promise you the world. And they deliver. They always keep their promise. Maybe for a moment, maybe for a few hours, they let you be taken by the undertow. That’s why you keep going back. Because they don’t lie. And because the next day the guilt has multiplied. You’re an even worse person than you were before, as if that was even possible. As if the hate inside you for yourself could ever deepen. But it does. Again and again. Day in and day out. And there’s only one way to get through it. To dull the pain. Mask the sorrow. Numb the hate. You do it to yourself again. Until it’s the rest of your life. But I don’t want it to be the rest of my life. Because
”
”
Karina Halle (The Play)
“
The two works I allude to, sir, will in particular give a noble rule and example of self-education. School and other education constantly proceed upon false principles, and show a clumsy apparatus pointed at a false mark; but your apparatus is simple, and the mark a true one; and while parents and young persons are left destitute of other just means of estimating and becoming prepared for a reasonable course in life, your discovery that the thing is in many a man's private power, will be invaluable! Influence upon the private character, late in life, is not only an influence late in life, but a weak influence. It is in youth that we plant our chief habits and prejudices; it is in youth that we take our party as to profession, pursuits and matrimony. In youth, therefore, the turn is given; in youth the education even of the next generation is given; in youth the private and public character is determined; and the term of life extending but from youth to age, life ought to begin well from youth, and more especially before we take our party as to our principal objects. But your biography will not merely teach self-education, but the education of a wise man; and the wisest man will receive lights and improve his progress, by seeing detailed the conduct of another wise man. And why are weaker men to be deprived of such helps, when we see our race has been blundering on in the dark, almost without a guide in this particular, from the farthest trace of time? Show then, sir, how much is to be done, both to sons and fathers; and invite all wise men to become like yourself, and other men to become wise. When we see how cruel statesmen and warriors can be to the human race, and how absurd distinguished men can be to their acquaintance, it will be instructive to observe the instances multiply of pacific, acquiescing manners; and to find how compatible it is to be great and domestic, enviable and yet good-humored.
”
”
Benjamin Franklin (The Complete Harvard Classics - ALL 71 Volumes: The Five Foot Shelf & The Shelf of Fiction: The Famous Anthology of the Greatest Works of World Literature)
“
How to live (forty pieces of advice I feel to be helpful but which I don’t always follow)
1. Appreciate happiness when it is there
2. Sip, don’t gulp.
3. Be gentle with yourself. Work less. Sleep more.
4. There is absolutely nothing in the past that you can change. That’s basic physics.
5. Beware of Tuesdays. And Octobers.
6. Kurt Vonnegut was right. “Reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found.”
7. Listen more than you talk.
8. Don’t feel guilty about being idle. More harm is probably done to the world through work than idleness. But perfect your idleness. Make it mindful.
9. Be aware that you are breathing.
10. Wherever you are, at any moment, try to find something beautiful. A face, a line out of a poem, the clouds out of a window, some graffiti, a wind farm. Beauty cleans the mind.
11. Hate is a pointless emotion to have inside you. It is like eating a scorpion to punish it for stinging you.
12. Go for a run. Then do some yoga.
13. Shower before noon.
14. Look at the sky. Remind yourself of the cosmos. Seek vastness at every opportunity, in order to see the smallness of yourself.
15. Be kind.
16. Understand that thoughts are thoughts. If they are unreasonable, reason with them, even if you have no reason left. You are the observer of your mind, not its victim.
17. Do not watch TV aimlessly. Do not go on social media aimlessly. Always be aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it. Don’t value TV less. Value it more. Then you will watch it less. Unchecked distractions will lead you to distraction.
18. Sit down. Lie down. Be still. Do nothing. Observe. Listen to your mind. Let it do what it does without judging it. Let it go, like Snow Queen in Frozen.
19. Don’t’ worry about things that probably won’t happen.
20. Look at trees. Be near trees. Plant trees. (Trees are great.)
21. Listen to that yoga instructor on YouTube, and “walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet”.
22. Live. Love. Let go. The three Ls.
23. Alcohol maths. Wine multiplies itself by itself. The more you have, the more you are likely to have. And if it is hard to stop at one glass, it will be impossible at three. Addition is multiplication.
24. Beware of the gap. The gap between where you are and where you want to be. Simply thinking of the gap widens it. And you end up falling through.
25. Read a book without thinking about finishing it. Just read it. Enjoy every word, sentence, and paragraph. Don’t wish for it to end, or for it to never end.
26. No drug in the universe will make you feel better, at the deepest level, than being kind to other people.
27. Listen to what Hamlet – literature’s most famous depressive – told Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
28. If someone loves you, let them. Believe in that love. Live for them, even when you feel there is no point.
29. You don’t need the world to understand you. It’s fine. Some people will never really understand things they haven’t experienced. Some will. Be grateful.
30. Jules Verne wrote of the “Living Infinite”. This is the world of love and emotion that is like a “sea”. If we can submerge ourselves in it, we find infinity in ourselves, and the space we need to survive.
31. Three in the morning is never the time to try and sort out your life.
32. Remember that there is nothing weird about you. You are just a human, and everything you do and feel is a natural thing, because we are natural animals. You are nature. You are a hominid ape. You are in the world and the world is in you. Everything connects.
33. Don’t believe in good or bad, or winning and losing, or victory and defeat, or ups and down. At your lowest and your highest, whether you are happy or despairing or calm or angry, there is a kernel of you that stays the same. That is the you that matters.
”
”
Matt Haig (Reasons to Stay Alive)
“
THE SIX LAWS OF WEALTH The First Law of Wealth: Keep a part of all you earn. Save at least 10% of your income. The Second Law of Wealth: Put your savings to work for you. Invest it so that it will multiply. The Third Law of Wealth: Avoid debt. The poor pay interest, while the rich earn interest. The Fourth Law of Wealth: Don’t speculate in get-rich-quick schemes. Invest in solid businesses that you understand. The Fifth Law of Wealth: Invest in yourself. Gain knowledge and skills to increase your earning power. The Sixth Law of Wealth: Safeguard your growing fortune with diversification and insurance.
”
”
Charles Conrad (The Richest Man in Babylon: Six Laws of Wealth)
“
ACTION WILL BE YOUR LEGACY “He who has a vehement desire for posthumous fame does not consider that every one of those who remember him will himself also die very soon…” – Marcus Aurelius We can’t escape the fact that we wish to leave the world with a reminder that we were here, too, once. On some level it doesn’t make much sense—the mind that is wishing to be remembered will probably be gone…it won’t even have a chance to think about being remembered! Some people can afford to put their name on football stadiums or tall buildings. Some people have left large tombs. Some have left autobiographies. Some have left massive fortunes. Some have left scientific breakthroughs. Some glorious son-of-a-gun out there left us the PB&J sandwich. These are great contributions. However, the accumulation of interactions you have with other people will certainly be greater. The way you are in the world matters more than what you make in the world. This is important. You spread whatever you are. If you are decisive, emotionally stable, and optimistic, then you will give others the permission to be the same. When you free yourself from overthinking and commit to action you will free others. Not by spreading the word or talking about this book (although that would be great!) but by just being that way. Think of a time when you’ve been afraid to make a leap. You look around for others who have made the leap. Then you see it’s a possibility. When you smile at someone instead of worrying about what they’re thinking about you, you make their day better—and your day better. When you do the thing you’re embarrassed to do you provide relief for everyone around who was too scared. When you believe the actions you take are more important than an abstract purpose, you may pull an onlooker out of an existential crisis with you. If you can do it, they can too. These moments multiply. The person you smiled at while waiting in line at the grocery store was planning on committing suicide later that day. Now they are second-guessing it. They may continue to live and provide good for others, who will then provide more good for others. Staying calm in the midst of an emergency will give solace to others. Now others will gain solace from them. It’s been called the butterfly effect. We, as humans, are terrible at believing what isn’t right in front of us. We sometimes feel like we’re doing nothing, like our lives don’t matter. This is impossible. If you think you can’t create any change, then you will create change by spreading the idea of hopelessness. Everything you do matters. Act accordingly.
”
”
Kyle Eschenroeder (The Pocket Guide to Action: 116 Meditations On the Art of Doing)
“
Let me share a way you can do this. Write down your current income. Then multiply it by a number: 2, 4, 10, 20—it doesn’t matter. Just pick one, multiply your income by it, and write down the new number. Looking at it and ignoring whether you’re frightened or excited, ask yourself, “Will my current actions get me to this number in the next five years?” If they will, then keep doubling the number until they won’t. If you then make your actions match your answer, you’ll be living large.
”
”
Gary Keller (The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results)
“
Brief experiences of sublime absorption, as ordinary as being struck by the brilliant blue of a cloudless sky, may contribute to your sense of being religious. The mystical moments multiply and over time you extend the borders of yourself, you are less prone to protecting yourself, and you have more empathy with the people and the world around you. If you define religion as a strong sense of the divine, your daily mysticism contributes to that sense by drawing you out of yourself into nature and then beyond.
”
”
Thomas Moore (A Religion of One's Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World)
“
Reflect and meditate on yourself and discover ways to multiply yourself
”
”
Sunday Adelaja
“
If you invest your life into yourself, you are not pouring your life out somewhere, to some job or for some salary, you are re-investing it into yourself. You are multiplying the quality of your life.
”
”
Sunday Adelaja (How To Become Great Through Time Conversion: Are you wasting time, spending time or investing time?)
“
You can become great by multiplying yourself through time conversion into different products but that will only be possible if you understand the value of time.
”
”
Sunday Adelaja (How To Become Great Through Time Conversion: Are you wasting time, spending time or investing time?)
“
When you reproduce yourself, you don’t spend your life, you multiply it.
”
”
Sunday Adelaja (How To Become Great Through Time Conversion: Are you wasting time, spending time or investing time?)
“
Viewing yourself as your toughest competitor is one of the best ways to multiply your results. Go above and beyond when you hit the wall. Another way to multiply your results is pushing past what other people expect of you—doing more than “enough.
”
”
Darren Hardy (The Compound Effect)
“
In her perennial search for the best foods regardless of cuisine, exploring the vast cornucopia at her disposal, she'd realized that the little mom-and-pop restaurants in the mini-malls were where she found the mother lode of deliciousness. Why? Because immigrants operated them. They had brought their homeland's flavors in their suitcases and were adding them to the never-ending gastronomic experiment that took place every day in Los Angeles. She loved to observe, but more important, to participate in the frequent overlap between different cuisines, resulting in an endless continuum of delight and surprise. Multiply that by more than one hundred and fifty countries and you had yourself Angeleno cuisine.
”
”
María Amparo Escandón (L.A. Weather)
“
You must let your desires guide you, instead of allowing yourself to be boxed in by perceived constraints.
”
”
Price Pritchett (You 2: A High Velocity Formula for Multiplying Your Personal Effectiveness in Quantum Leaps)
“
School and other education constantly proceed upon false principles, and show a clumsy apparatus pointed at a false mark; but your apparatus is simple, and the mark a true one; and while parents and young persons are left destitute of other just means of estimating and becoming prepared for a reasonable course in life, your discovery that the thing is in many a man's private power, will be invaluable! Influence upon the private character, late in life, is not only an influence late in life, but a weak influence. It is in youth that we plant our chief habits and prejudices; it is in youth that we take our party as to profession, pursuits and matrimony. In youth, therefore, the turn is given; in youth the education even of the next generation is given; in youth the private and public character is determined; and the term of life extending but from youth to age, life ought to begin well from youth, and more especially before we take our party as to our principal objects. But your biography will not merely teach self-education, but the education of a wise man; and the wisest man will receive lights and improve his progress, by seeing detailed the conduct of another wise man. And why are weaker men to be deprived of such helps, when we see our race has been blundering on in the dark, almost without a guide in this particular, from the farthest trace of time? Show then, sir, how much is to be done, both to sons and fathers; and invite all wise men to become like yourself, and other men to become wise. When we see how cruel statesmen and warriors can be to the human race, and how absurd distinguished men can be to their acquaintance, it will be instructive to observe the instances multiply of pacific, acquiescing manners; and to find how compatible it is to be great and domestic, enviable and yet good-humored.
”
”
Benjamin Franklin (The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin)
“
Minimize extreme multi-tasking. The skill of multi-tasking is one of the highly in demand capabilities both in the personal and professional world. Although it is highly beneficial, it also has its disadvantages. One of these is that it can multiply the risk for stress and later negative thoughts. Do not overexert yourself in doing several tasks at once, your mind may be able to sustain them but sometimes the body can no longer keep up.
”
”
Bobbie Myers (Free Yourself from Negative Thinking)
“
All of you shows and is multiplied in everything you do, so know yourself and take care of yourself first, so you can live on purpose and contribute from a place of abundance and overflow.
”
”
Anton Uhl (FEEDING BODY, MIND AND SOUL: How What Goes In Changes Everything)
“
After all, it had been…how long since his last sexual encounter? He did some mental math: carry the one, make the seven an eight…multiply by pi…add the square root of sixty-two…do the hokeypokey and turn yourself around…When he saw the final number, he immediately erased the blackboard. No way could it have
”
”
Elizabeth Bevarly (Express Male (OPUS #2))
“
Once the founder has the vision, the key to achieving that vision is to delegate—as much and as fast as possible. Delegation is a form of quitting. Even if you are the most well-rounded and capable CEO of all time, you are still better off delegating functions to specialists. This allows you to multiply the size of your endeavor through large numbers of people rather than trying to do everything yourself.
”
”
Darren Hardy (The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster: Why Now Is the Time to #Join the Ride)
“
MAY 7 Let God Increase Your Strength He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. ISAIAH 40:29 When I feel myself starting to get weary, I go to the Lord. I have learned it’s better to keep up regular maintenance than to wait until a breakdown occurs and then try to repair the damage. It is wise not to use up everything you have and totally deplete all your resources—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s easy to get burned out from overwork or just being continually upset and frustrated about problems, especially when you focus on them rather than keeping your eyes on the Lord. Don’t rely on yourself and your own strength and abilities. God has promised to provide the strength, energy, and power you need to keep going. So learn to relax more and allow the Lord to restore and renew you before you start falling apart. Come apart daily and spend quality time with Jesus.
”
”
Joyce Meyer (Ending Your Day Right: Devotions for Every Evening of the Year)
“
Know all ritual, ceremony, and conditions to be arbitrary (you have yourself to please): in the end, they are just a hindrance and a confusion; their origin was as an amusement, but they were later used for the purpose of deceiving others from knowing the truth and inducing ignorance and ,as always, the high priests involved were the most deceived themselves. He who deceives another deceives himself much more. Therefore know the charlatans by their love of rich robes, ceremony, ritual, magical retirements, absurd conditions, and other stupidities too numerous to relate. Their entire doctrine is a boastful display, a cowardice hungering for notoriety; their standard everything unnecessary, their certain failure assured. Hence it is that those with some natural ability lose it by their teaching. They can only dogmatise, implant and multiply that which is entirely superficial. Were
”
”
Austin Osman Spare (Book of Pleasure in Plain English)
“
God wants each and every one of us to succeed, provided that our definition of success is right. God wants us to reach our potential and contribute to the world in tremendous ways. Success in the general sense is God’s way of sharing abundance. He uses your success to bless others while you benefit yourself. Success is a multiplier, not a divider,
”
”
Tommy Newberry (Success Is Not an Accident: Change Your Choices; Change Your Life)
“
Paul said that God gave pastors, teachers, and elders to the church so that they could teach the rest of us to minister. A pastor’s job is not to do all of the ministry in a church, but to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12). So the question becomes: Whom should you be ministering to and how? Don’t be overwhelmed by the task of ministering to others. It is just about faithfully serving the people God has placed in your life. Paul explained: Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:1–2)
”
”
Francis Chan (Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples)
“
Don’t kid yourself—true religion is not about what you know, it’s about putting what you know about God and His Word into practice.
”
”
Francis Chan (The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply)
“
He’ll outstretch all your capabilities to make it happen. He is highly demanding, but you feel great. “You know you are signing up for something that will challenge you on a daily basis for many years to come. You will challenge yourself and all your capabilities. “Exhilarating, exhausting, challenging, gratifying.”3 “He’s a big source of energy. He is a source of power and a tail-wind for what we do.
”
”
Liz Wiseman (Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter)
“
Pastor Madison looked steadily at the jurors, cleared his throat and started to read. “Marriage is what brings us together today. Where did the idea of marriage come from? What is marriage? Does marriage have any purpose in this modern age? Is it really a blessed arrangement? Why shouldn’t anyone, or any group of someones, be allowed to marry? Is marriage in danger of extinction? These are all questions, along with others, that we will examine today and in the next three week’s sermons. “First, where did the idea of marriage come from? Who thought it up? I’m going to read to you a few sentences from a sermon given by a Swedish Pastor named Ake Green. Pay attention to what he said, because he was arrested and convicted by the Swedish judicial system for what he said. As you listen to the beginning of Pastor Green’s sermon, ask yourself if you think his words are hate words. The Swedish government charged and convicted Pastor Green with a hate crime for these words. Here are Pastor Green’s opening few paragraphs: “From the beginning God created humans as man and woman. We begin in Genesis 1:27-28: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." “Here, God's Word clearly states that you were created to be Father and Mother - as man and woman - designed for parenthood. The Lord states that very clearly here….The marriage institution is also clearly defined in Genesis 2:24, where it says: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." “Only man and wife are referred to here. It is not stated any other way; you can never imply or interpret it to mean that you can have whatever sexual partner you wish to have. ….” “What was it that led to these cities (Sodom, mentioned 30 times in the Bible, and Gomorrah) perishing, losing their dignity, disappearing from the face of the Earth? It was because they lived in homosexuality. It will be the same on that day when the Son of Man is revealed; consequently, this is a sign of the times we are facing. As people lived in the time of Lot, so shall they live before Jesus returns. This is something we cannot deny in any way. Jesus says that the lifestyle of Sodom shall be active in the whole Earth before the coming of Jesus. The one who represents this lifestyle today goes against God's order of creation.
”
”
John Price (THE WARNING A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 2))
“
Every complex number has a complex conjugated twin, which is inverted—a mirror image—along the x-axis and has the same real part. Only the imaginary part is different: the equal-size opposite. If you multiply a complex number by itself, you get another complex number. But if you multiply a complex number by its complex conjugate, you get a real number.
So it’s important to find your complex conjugated twin. And to multiply yourself by him—then the product will be real.
”
”
Klara Hveberg (Lean Your Loneliness Slowly Against Mine)
“
This too will pass, of course. In fact, artistically speaking, it has passed. The unfolding over time of a great idea is like the growth of a fractal crystal, allowing details and refinements to multiply endlessly – but only in ever-decreasing scale. Eventually (perhaps by the early 1960's) those who stepped forward to carry the West Coast Landscape Photography banner were not producing art, so much as re-producing the history of art. Separated two or three generations from the forces that spawned the vision they championed, they were left making images of experiences they never quite had. If you find yourself caught in similar circumstances, we modestly offer this bit of cowboy wisdom: When your horse dies, get off.
”
”
David Bayles (Art and Fear)
“
Shinzen Young’s formula suffering equals pain multiplied by resistance (S = P × R) applies perfectly in these types of situations. We magnify any pain by the degree to which we fight it. When we stop reproaching and start accepting, suffering diminishes.
A big part of the Self-Worth Safari adventure is that of reconnecting with your intrinsic reality, rather than living in the mental movie theater of self-assessment and self-reproach. The terrain of romantic love can be painful enough without adding any additional penalty points. If you have lost a partner (or someone you hoped would be a partner), even if love has eluded you entirely, that’s enough to deal with. You don’t need the additional burden of negative judgment about yourself. The pain of loss heals with time, but self-reproach is like a cancer that eats away at happiness and energy.
Self-acceptance is a deep understanding of who you really are, with honest acknowledgment of (so-called) strengths and weaknesses as well as your needs. It means accepting your reality, even when it’s not “enough”.
”
”
John Niland
“
The more you expose yourself to situations and things that you are uncomfortable with, the more quickly you will get comfortable with discomfort.
”
”
Daniel Walter (How to Stop Procrastinating: Powerful Strategies to Overcome Laziness and Multiply Your Time)
“
Choosing to do right and treat other people right, knowing that the ones you treat right will do you bad. It is the most selfless, painful and courageous thing to do. May the doors of opportunities always open for you and may your blessings be multiplied for sacrificing yourself for other people well being.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
ADT isn’t an illness or character defect. It’s our brains’ natural response to exploding demands on our time and attention. As data increasingly floods our brains, we lose our ability to solve problems and handle the unknown. Creativity shrivels; mistakes multiply. Some sufferers eventually melt down.
”
”
Harvard Business Publishing (HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself (with bonus article "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton M. Christensen))
“
As you consider the Father's heart for you, remember that he is the Father of mercies. He is not cautious in his tenderness toward you. He multiplies mercies matched to your every need, and there is nothing he would rather do. "Remember," said the Puritan John Flavel, "that this God in whose hand are all creatures, is your Father, and is much more tender of you than you are, or can be, of yourself." Your gentlest treatment of yourself is less gentle than the way your heavenly Father handles you. His tenderness toward you outstrips what you are even capable of toward yourself.
”
”
Dane C. Ortlund (Doux et humble de cœur: L'amour de Christ pour les pécheurs et les affligés (French Edition))
“
People want to be engaged, inspired, instructed, and entertained! To become the best version of yourself as a communicator, you must start with your strengths, use your talent, and add skills, knowledge, and practice to the mix. Those factors will become multipliers to your communication.
”
”
John C. Maxwell (The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication: Apply Them and Make the Most of Your Message)
“
Finding the right people for your team starts with a continual self-audit. Examine yourself in the mirror. Figure out who you are and who you aren’t. Then look at your friend group, the people who are around you all the time. Who’s building you up? Who’s bringing you down? The people in your circle, they’re either adding to you or subtracting from you. Maybe they’re helping to multiply your blessings. Or maybe they’re dividing you from things that are really important. To get the results you want in the MATHEMATICS OF LIFE, you’ve got to surround yourself with the right kind of folks.
”
”
Deion Sanders (Elevate and Dominate: 21 Ways to Win On and Off the Field)
“
One advantage of collaboration is that it's much easier to learn from someone else than from yourself. And inertia, which is often a major block in solitary work, hardly exists at all here: A releases B's energy, B releases A's energy. Information flows and multiplies easily. Learning becomes many-sided, a refreshing and vitalizing force.
”
”
Stephen Nachmanovitch
“
The more you allow yourself to love, the more it will grow. Love multiplies.
”
”
Ava Munroe (Serviced (Mechanics on Main #1))
“
Perpetual optimism, believing in yourself, believing in your purpose, believing you will prevail, and demonstrating passion and confidence is a force multiplier. If you believe and have prepared your followers, the followers will believe.
”
”
Colin Powell (It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership)
“
Success means that you’re making bigger and better improvements that are valuable to others and satisfying to yourself. It means that you can’t think of anything you’d rather be doing than what you’re doing.
”
”
Dan Sullivan (Simplifier-Multiplier Collaboration: Identify your fundamental value-creation activity and discover a world of collaboration opportunities.)
“
The heart chakra is totally about compassion and love. Love comes back in a multiplier effect when you give love unconditionally.
”
”
Michael Williams (Chakras for Beginners: How to Awaken and Balance Chakras, Radiate Positive Energy and Heal Yourself)
“
he that reproves a scorner gets to himself shame; and he that rebukes a wicked man gets himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
For by me your days shall increase and the years of your life shall be multiplied. If you be wise, you shall be wise for yourself, but if you scorn, you shall bear it alone.
A clamorous woman is foolish, she is simple, and knows nothing. For she sits at the door of her house on a seat in high places of the city. to call passengers who go right on their ways:
whosoever is simple, let him turn hither, and as for him that wants understanding, she says to him:
stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant,
but he knows not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
”
”
Solomon
“
I got tired,” I said, then tried to find the words that would make him understand. “I don’t mean tired like ‘it’s been a long day’ tired, either. Imagine that you just really don’t want to fucking get out of bed, like you can’t find the energy or the desire to start your day at all. Your body is heavy and your mind is fuzzy, but then you think ‘alright, if I get up, I can go get my favorite coffee’. So, you manage to pull your clothes on and make it down the block to get some; and they’re out. Then you leave and it starts raining, really raining, so now you’re wet and cold because you didn’t think to grab an umbrella. Then you make it home just to realize you’ve locked yourself out. So, you sit there on the front porch, coffee-less, soaked to the bone, thinking about how you didn’t even want to get out of bed in the first place. Can you imagine that feeling?” Scott took a moment to think about it, then just slowly nodded. “Yeah, I think so. It’s kind of a ‘what was the point?’ feeling, right?” “Exactly,” I said. “Now take that feeling, multiply it by about fifty, and that’s how I feel every day. That’s what getting out of bed is like, every day. Every single time, I have to find a reason. Even when it’s a good day, I still feel like I’m sitting out there in the rain, my back to a locked door. And I just think to myself that I wouldn’t have to feel that way if I was dead. That kind of tired is bone deep, and suffocating, and I hate it. And I hope you never have to really understand it, because it’s an awful way to be.
”
”
Charlotte Reagan (Loving Lakyn)
“
When these comments are made in the classroom I ask the students to take out their calculators. I get them to tap the buttons as I give them a problem. “Two plus three times four equals…?”
Some students get 20 as an answer on their calculator. Others get an answer of 14.
Which number is correct? How can calculators give two different answers when you press the same buttons?
This is because there is an order of mathematical functions. You multiply and divide before you add or subtract. Some calculators know this; some don't.
A calculator can't think for you. You must understand what you are doing yourself. If you don't understand mathematics, a calculator is of little help.
”
”
Bill Handley (Speed Mathematics: Secret Skills for Quick Calculation)
“
Do not assume you are good soil. Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God’s kingdom in your life? Or are you choking it out slowly by spending too much time, energy, money, and thought on the things of this world? Are you satisfied being “godly enough” to get yourself to heaven, or to look good in comparison to others? Or can you say with Paul that you “want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:10)?
”
”
Francis Chan (The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply)
“
The most important thing is definitely to have joy in your life. Lighten up; do not take things so seriously; do not be too hard on yourself and others; let joy into the lives of people. Joy is natural; it is the soul expressing itself. It keeps the energy circulating and makes the whole ride worth it! Joy multiplies everything it attracts. And it is fun. Enjoy!
”
”
David Cameron Gikandi (A Happy Pocket Full of Money, Expanded Study Edition: Infinite Wealth and Abundance in the Here and Now)
“
The scheduling process that Pete stumbled upon is very common among Multipliers and is something that we at Southwestern Consulting refer to as creating a “categorical schedule.” It allows you to feel more in control by blocking a certain amount of time each day or week for types of activities without locking yourself into hard specifics of what might feel “rigid” and “constricting,” as with traditional schedules.
”
”
Rory Vaden (Procrastinate on Purpose: 5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time)
“
What is this “I” that human beings are so attached to? It’s pure romance, the greatest of fictions and confabulations. Can you hold it or taste it? Can you define it or even see it? “What am I?” asks a man. Oh, ho, a better question might be, “What am I not?” How often have you heard someone say, “I’m not myself today?” Or, “I didn’t mean to say that?” No? Ha, ha, here I am dancing, dancing—am I the movement and genius of my whole organism or merely the sense of selfness that occupies the body, like a beggar in a grand hotel room? Am I only the part of myself that is noble, kind, mindful and strong? Which disapproves and disavows the “me” that is lustful, selfish, and wild? Who am I? Ah, ah, “I am” says the man. I am despairing, I am wild, I do not accept that I am desperate and wild. Who does not accept these things? I am a boy, I am a man, I am father, hunter, hero, lover, coward, pilot, asarya and fool. Which “I” are you—Danlo the Wild? Where is your “I” that changes from mood to mood, from childhood to old age? Is there more to this “I” than continuity of memory and love of eating what you call nose ice? Does it vanish when you fall asleep? Does it multiply by two during sexual bliss? Does it die when you die—or multiply infinitely? How will you ever know? So, it’s so, you will try to watch out for yourself lest you lose your selfness. “But how do I watch?” you ask. Aha—if I am watching myself, what is the “I” that watches the watcher? Can the eye see itself? Then how can the “I” see itself? Peel away the skin of an onion and you will find only more skins. Go look for your “I”. Who will look? You will look. Oh, ho, Danlo, but who will look for you?
”
”
David Zindell (The Broken God (A Requiem for Homo Sapiens, #1))
“
There is much to be said for the conscious expression of anger, and it is well known medically and psychologically that suppressing anger in the sense of internalizing it is unhealthy, particularly if it becomes habitual. But it is also unhealthy to vent anger uncontrollably as a matter of habit and reaction, however “justifiable.” You can feel it cloud the mind. It breeds feelings of aggression and violence—even if the anger is in the service of righting a wrong or getting something important to happen—and thus intrinsically warps what is, whether you are in the right or not. You can feel this even when you can’t stop yourself sometimes. Mindfulness can put you in touch with the toxicity of the anger to yourself and to others. I always come away from it feeling that there is something inadequate about anger, even when I am objectively on high ground. Its innate toxicity taints all it touches. If its energy can be transmuted to forcefulness and wisdom, without the smoke and fire of self-absorption or self-righteousness, then its power multiplies, and so does its capacity to transform both the object of the anger and the source.
”
”
Jon Kabat-Zinn (Wherever You Go, There You Are)
“
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15) God calls you to “do your best.” Laziness is inexcusable. We are studying the very words that God chose to communicate to us, so in addition to studying prayerfully and obediently, we must study diligently. God calls us to love Him with our minds (Matt. 22:37),
”
”
Francis Chan (Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples)
“
You're not too much Piper. You don't need to shrink down to fit into someone else's life. The thing about love- friendship, family, partnered- is it's meant to make your life bigger. It's supposed to give you more of what's good. Love expands and multiplies and grows in the nurture of it. Anyone who can't embrace everything you bring, all the big that you are and are ready to give, can find less.
It's not your job to carver yourself into their size.
”
”
Mallory Thomas (Somewhere Along The Line)
“
And that there are pleasures we get when reading silently that are not obtainable live—the way the brain fires multiply under the influence of a good sentence (read rather than heard) and all of the almost synesthesialike effects that happen. Also, the fact that we control the pace when we read to ourselves—even microadjustments in reading pace can change the experience. A line hits you hard, you take a second to look out the window, collecting yourself, and in that second the fictive world settles in more fully around you—and then you plunge back in.
”
”
George Saunders (Tenth of December)