Books

Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life

My favorite quotes from the book Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life by Eric Greitens which I rated 5/5 on my Goodreads account:

What you will become is a result of what you are willing to endure.

Use what hits you to change your trajectory in a positive direction.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.

Great changes come when we make small adjustements with great conviction.

Action without direction rarely leads to progress.

Anyone who does anything meaningful will have critics.

A focus on excellence will, over time, lead to happiness.

Not what we have, but what we enjoy constitues our abundance.

Any fool can learn from his mistakes. Wise man learns from mistakes of others.

If you want to feel differently – act differently! At first it will feel like a lie, but ‘be’ what you would like to be and you’ll become it.

People who think you’re weak will offer you an excuse. People who respect you will offer you a challenge.

If you want to live a purposeful life, you have to create your purpose.

Working hard yourself makes you more appreciative and respectful of the hard work of others.

He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.

  1. Why am I here?
  2. What’s going around me?
  3. What am I going to do about it?
  4. How will my actions affect others?

When the child is skillful he boasts. When the warrior has a skill, he teaches. When the child is strong, he attacks the weak. When the warrior is strong, he protects the weak. The child criticises others to make himself feel better. The warrior is his own most demanding critic.

Warriors are expected to combine courage and ferocity in battle with decency and humanity in victory.

Written by Nikola Brežnjak