The most inefficient and self-harming thing a person can do is go out looking for love. Let it find you when the time is right and you’re out doing what you love to do. Only then will you find it in its truest form.
Always hear others out and remain open-minded the day you think you know everything is the day you have the most yet to learn.
The more a mind thinks upon something, the deeper it will take root and affect all subsequent and related thought.
If your heart, mind, and actions are selfish, they will ultimately divide you, others, or entire [establishments]. When motivation is pure and selfless, it will result in helping bring others together.
Most physical battles begin once mental ones have been lost, anyway. Conquer the mind, conquer the body.
The mind thinks upon, processes, and remembers what the senses forget.
The lion does not need the whole world to fear him, only those nearest where he roams.
Like tiny gods, all that we say and do holds a power so great that any one of us in any given moment can be responsible for the birth of a new civilization or the collapse of our own.
No army is comprised of all the same kinds of units or types of troops. There is power in diversity. If you always see only one choice, or use only one option, you will surely lose more than you win.
Always think at least two steps ahead [in everything, with everyone].
[Everything you write is] not simply a collection of words, but a means of influence not to be taken lightly. Let your recipient’s emotions be the gondola, and your words, its gondolier.
When you give people a choice, they believe they have power.
Fear is for the powerless. Fear is for the alone. But as you stand together now, you are neither of those. Together, you amplify each other’s strengths; you nullify each other’s weaknesses.
Perspective alone can make an experience positive or negative, but regardless of which you let it become, it can only have as much power over your outlook on life as you give it.
Emotional states change like the wind, and to indulge them only gives them more power over a person.
A man is no more than breath until his breath fashions the words that others cannot forget.
The power to give everything or take it all away is the inborn power contained in every confident woman’s grasp – the only way for a man to regain that power, is to keep her happy enough that she forgets she even has it.
Never overestimate the strength of the torchbearer’s arm, for even the strongest arms grow weary.
You don’t have to keep living in a dystopia simply because you’re strong and noble enough to accept it.
Sic vis pacem para bellum – if you want peace, prepare for war.
Sometimes to submit is to know you have a life worth living for a higher purpose, worth seeing through.
Sometimes you can grow more in a shorter amount of time with the right company than years of soul-searching alone, or by living the same patterns you’ve lived for your entire life.
Seek counsel; though we are all skilled and experienced in many ways, no one can experience all that life has to offer in the limited time we are given in this world.
Everything can be achieved through gradual steps – one small step at a time: overcoming fears, fulfilling dreams… anything you wish to be different from the way it is.
What seems like a flaw is merely our higher consciousness telling us we’re not looking at it in the right light yet.
Our lives consist of a series of internal battles, deep within us, where weapons don’t exist and technology is unable to create devices that better the best of yesterday. Our knowledge is our only defense; caution, our only friend.
We must humble ourselves before [others] so we may learn from what others have lived. It is only when we have added their expertise to our own that we can truly excel towards our most ambitious goals and reach our fullest potential.
No matter where you go, there’s always something to deal with; if it’s not greed, it’s lust, or envy, or pride, or something else. You just have to live your life so uncorrupted that it offsets the corruption as much as possible.
Love is not a purpose, it’s a paradox; it’s not an end-goal, it’s an auxiliary fuel source to help get there.
My happiness with the future and the present depends on my ability to let the past go and make peace with it.
Sometimes it’s best to trade an ideal for something more practical that you can guarantee.
Without purpose and meaning in our lives, we banish ourselves to wander this plane of existence with self-destructive tendencies until the bell tolls and our breath capsizes in our lungs, snatching our chance to redeem ourselves forever.
What we don’t often realize is that the rebirth and collapse of grand things do not begin with grand things at all, like the things we see, but with the small, like the things we are – in the things we do – in the things we say.
A good leader must have the wisdom to know when a pursuit is no longer worthy of being pursued – a time when the losses of the present must be accepted – and cut – to preserve the gains and providence of the future.
Every man walks his own path, and every path has its fair share of locked doors. You never know who holds the key to a door you’ll need to open one day, so you best treat people as if they are all keyholders.
The most fulfilling adventures happen when you start your journey without knowing where you’re going, because only then are you free to experience the unexpected detours you’re meant to take.
If you think you know what your purpose is, but can never seem to gain satisfaction from it, then it’s probably not the purpose you’re destined for.
Just because someone is a keyholder, does not mean they will always help you unlock the door you want to go through – no matter how much you think you deserve to go through it. Sometimes you just have to reach out and take it.
We are not slaves of the past, nor servants of the present, but masters of the future.
The path of destiny is not always paved smooth with gold.
Things happen, and nothing is for sure, but you just have to keep going, believing that one day, you’ll find something that is.
The ignorance of the world often makes people believe that life should be black and white – that you must choose sides – and so the world of colourful gradients goes unadmired.
What you withhold in this life will be withheld from you in the next.
No matter what, don’t live a life where you’re too scared to die for what you believe in. Always go at it with everything you’ve got, even if it doesn’t seem to be enough.
We are united by something greater and more valuable than our beliefs alone: the freedom to have those beliefs, and believe what we want without persecution – we must protect that at all costs.
Words give inspiration, nothing more. You want redemption? The very thing you seek inspiration for? Fight for it like your life depended on it, because it always does.
It is the crimson tongue that paints the world others think they see.
Sometimes the best way to learn a lesson isn’t just hearing the words, but putting it into practice by experimenting with it and finding its truth for yourself instead of taking someone else’s word for it.
We all need to humble ourselves from time to time and expose ourselves to new perspectives and ideas, even those of the non-experts, or else our growth potential gets weighed down with the ignorance of ego and habit.
When you give meaning to even the most meaningless of things around you, you will always stand to be taught something new, have what you already know reinforced, or be reminded of what you’ve forgotten.
Sometimes it feels like you have nothing, or aren’t going anywhere, but while you’re waiting for fortune to deliver you, there is always something you can do to help yourself, or teach yourself to better your situation.
Presenting a humble façade gains trust; flattery appeals to ego; combine the two to gain an ego-based trust within someone, and you will find in your hands a judgement clouding tool second only to love.
Trust is always a risk, but when placed in the right people after a trial period where they prove themselves worthy of it, it is a reward transcendent of all the emotional mire that bogs down a person’s potential.
Where there is desire, the means to fulfill it are endless.
Admiration provides no saving grace for the inconvenient.
In times of war, skepticism can be just cause for execution.
Being a leader is not about finding ways to get others to serve you, but knowing how to serve your followers.
It is unwise to waste in thought what could be earned and secured in action.
We live our days in the microscopic, but something within us calls us to dream in the cosmic – every one of us. And within us exists those two worlds: the world as it is and the world as we think it ought to be.
Sometimes we exist long enough to lead the next generation; other times, only to plant a seed and let its resonations of our time here on Earth ripple into new waves.
Your life is not a countdown to your death, but a stepping stone for the lives that will live after you. Squander today, and you will find yourself useless tomorrow.
Life is what you make it and legacy is what you leave it. Stop trying to be perfect, stop waiting for perfection to find you, and start making your environment a product of you instead of the other way around.
The world is changeable, and its ability to change is so fragile that a single person can be responsible for it.
The older you get, the faster time passes in your mind, so use your time according to what is most important.
What’s the use in prolonging life if you don’t do anything with it?
They say you can’t change the past despite the fact it never stops changing you – but that doesn’t mean we have to sit back and take it. It may change us, but we have ultimate control over how we let it.
The only way we succeed as a group is not simply following directions, but in keeping each other accountable for our actions.
Some people are born to hold keys, while others are born to use them.
Greatness is not a gift that one can give to another, but rather is a thief’s relic that we must take for ourselves.
Don’t let the fact you haven’t done something before convince you that you can’t do it, or that it cannot be done perfectly the first time you try your hand at it.
To get to where you need to be, you have to go where you don’t feel prepared to go.
Sometimes you just have to know when the battle you’re fighting is one best walked away from, than fought to the cold, bitter end.
Change isn’t always comfortable, but it always teaches us something of utmost importance – usually about ourselves – and we become better people for it.
You must always focus on and pursue the good, but when that darkness surges up from within, you need to know how to handle it, use it, and release it wisely, not just deny its presence or acceptability as you suppress it within you.
Far too many people allow broken egos and wounded prides to convince them to seek justice before they seek understanding.
Anything you dream [can] be yours simply because you’ve focused on the steps you could take instead of the distance to get there.
Never give up on the possibilities or accept what is when you can see it for what it could be.
If something needs to be done, do it. If something needs to be said, say it.
The values most important to us are always the most easily exploitable.
Once you start settling, and letting others control your life, it can quickly become a habit, so it’s best to avoid such things altogether.
We are creatures of habit more than we are creatures of change.
Sometimes the heart can hear what the ears do not.
Our knees get dusty from time to time, but when they touch the ground, we must never allow the dust to convince us that our submission in that moment is the acceptance of our defeat for an entire lifetime.
Sometimes you just need to know when a fight is best saved for another day when the odds are more in your favour.
Greed robs you of more value than the price of what you’ve gained.
You believe stealing is wrong, but if your family was starving and could not afford bread, wouldn’t you say it’s okay to steal a loaf to feed them?
If someone was going to kill someone dear to you, and you could stop that person by killing them instead, would you kill them, knowing it was an effective way to save your loved one?
Our destinations are Booleans – we reach them or we don’t – but our journeys are spectrums, because there are so many paths we can take to our destination that make getting there that much better.
There is stability in walking an uncertain path, because you never allow yourself to be misled by what you think you know.
The amount of gold someone has is never the issue, but rather the love of it and the want of more for personal gain that consumes the hearts of many good people.
Where excess lies, usually someone had to give something up for the other to get it.
This day, you are free, because you have chosen to be free – and because of your choice, your days of insignificance are over.
Remain open-minded, even when you believe yourself to be a king among peasants. You never know what blessings can be gained or crises averted just by listening.
Our unity will always be a greater force with mixed ideals than if we demand that others change for us, to what we believe.
When life brings you mountains, you don’t waste your time asking why; you spend your time climbing over them.
Don’t let realism keep you from doing what you feel you need to do, even if you think it’s hopeless.
In the grand scheme of life, nobody grows old keeping their soul unblemished.
If you choose to keep your true face secret, then the people who know you by one mask, must never meet those who know you by another.
When you’re looking for a needle in a haystack, don’t afraid to burn the haystack to save yourself from spending half your life picking through strands of straw.
If we are to be truly free, that freedom will come through cooperation and tolerance with one another.
A man shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds him, even if another holds out a golden spoon to him as reward after his betrayal.
People are more willing to change based on their perceived insecurities than by an attack on their beliefs.
Express [yourself] without worrying what everyone else will think. Those people are your limits. Ignore them.
The questions we don’t ask become the puzzles we don’t solve.
All things are possible; if something seems like it’s not, it’s only because enough people aren’t being deceived into the possibilities yet.
We must always be careful never to make more enemies than we could handle if they were all to attack at once.
People respond more to the authority of status, than the authority of truth.
Being an authority on paper does not immediately grant you authority over a group until it is earned by you and given by them.