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

by Mark Manson

no truly happy person feels the need to stand in front of a mirror and recite that she’s happy. She just is.

The key to a good life is not giving a fuck about more; it’s giving a fuck about less, giving a fuck about only what is true and immediate and important.

This is why not giving a fuck is so key. This is why it’s going to save the world. And it’s going to save it by accepting that the world is totally fucked and that’s all right, because it’s always been that way, and always will be.

Notice how it’s often the person who is the least invested in the success of something that actually ends up achieving it?

The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering.

To try to avoid pain is to give too many fucks about pain.

In my life, I have given a fuck about many things. I have also not given a fuck about many things. And like the road not taken, it was the fucks not given that made all the difference.

You can’t be an important and life-changing presence for some people without also being a joke and an embarrassment to others. You just can’t.

The point isn’t to get away from the shit. The point is to find the shit you enjoy dealing with.

Much as the pain of touching a hot stove teaches you not to touch it again, the sadness of being alone teaches you not to do the things that made you feel so alone again.