Mark Manson

One day, you and everyone you love will die. And beyond a small group of people for an extremely brief period of time, little of what you say or do will ever matter. This is the Uncomfortable Truth of life. And everything you think or do is but an elaborate avoidance of it. We are inconsequential cosmic dust, bumping and milling about on a tiny blue speck. We imagine our own importance. We invent our purpose—we are nothing.

The secret sauce is in the solving of the problems, not in not having problems in the first place

I wanted the result and not the process. I was in love with not the fight but only the victory

People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainties of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it

Because the joy is in the climb itself

Often, it’s this realization—that you and your problems are actually not privileged in their severity or pain—that is the first and most important step toward solving them

People who become great at something become great because they understand that they’re not already great—they are mediocre, they are average—and that they could be so much better

The second layer of the self-awareness onion is an ability to ask why we feel certain emotions

Let’s say the first layer of the self-awareness onion is a simple understanding of one’s emotions

The third level is our personal values: Why do I consider this to be success/failure?