The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

by Mark Manson

all the positive and happy self-help stuff we hear all the time—is actually fixating on what you lack.

Our crisis is no longer material; it’s existential, it’s spiritual.

The more you desperately want to be happy and loved, the lonelier and more afraid you become, regardless of those who surround you.

There’s a name for a person who finds no emotion or meaning in anything: a psychopath.

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”

Often the only difference between a problem being painful or being powerful is a sense that we chose it, and that we are responsible for it.

When we feel that we’re choosing our problems, we feel empowered. When we feel that our problems are being forced upon us against our will, we feel victimized and miserable.

“With great responsibility comes great power.”

I learned the hard way that if the people in your relationships are selfish and doing hurtful things, it’s likely you are too, you just don’t realize it.

it’s growth that generates happiness, not a long list of arbitrary achievements.

We need some sort of existential crisis to take an objective look at how we’ve been deriving meaning in our life, and then consider changing course.

pain is part of the process.

promise yourself that you will assume that you are the root of your problems next time you get upset. Just try on the idea and see how it feels.

They say that a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa can cause a hurricane in Florida; well, what hurricanes will you leave in your wake?