Mastery Quotes

"Discipline comes through self-control. This means that one must control all negative qualities. Before you can control conditions, you must first control yourself. Self-mastery is the hardest job you will ever tackle. If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self. You may see at one and the same time both your best friend and your greatest enemy, by stepping in front of a mirror. p. 86"

"Survival is the only metric of mastery that matters."

"Every time you confront something painful, you are at a potentially important juncture in your life."

"In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn't read all the time—none, zero."

"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."

"Complexity is often a mask for a lack of mastery."

"You have to reach the point where you’re not just repeating what you’ve been told, but you actually understand the underlying theory."

"Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning."

"Learning is not what you read, it is what you do."

"If you're not failing, you're not pushing your limits, and if you're not pushing your limits, you're not maximizing your potential."

"The most important thing is to be able to recognize when you are wrong."

"We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job."

"Heuristics are the tools of the master, not the novice."

"I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well."

"Knowing what you don't know is more useful than being brilliant."

"Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant."

"The apprentice follows rules; the master follows principles."

"History repeats itself because the same cause-effect relationships keep occurring."

"A lot of people with high IQs are terrible investors because they’ve got terrible temperaments."

"Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all."

"Mastery is being comfortable with what you do not know."

"Dreams + Reality + Determination = A Successful Life."

"Mimicking the herd invites regression to the mean."

"Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result."

"Mastery is the ability to turn stress into growth."

"Pain + Reflection = Progress."

"It’s not given to human beings to have such talent that they can just know everything about everything."

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings."

"To master life, you must be antifragile."

"Weaknesses don’t matter if you find solutions."

"You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time."

"We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out."

"Expertise without risk is just talk."