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

by Mark Manson

There’s a saying in Texas: “The smallest dog barks the loudest.” A confident man doesn’t feel a need to prove that he’s confident. A rich woman doesn’t feel a need to convince anybody that she’s rich. Either you are or you are not. And if you’re dreaming of something all the time, then you’re reinforcing the same unconscious reality over and over: that you are not that.

Everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience.

Self-awareness is like an onion. There are multiple layers to it, and the more you peel them back, the more likely you’re going to start crying at inappropriate times.

If you want to change how you see your problems, you have to change what you value and/or how you measure failure/success.

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

Life is about not knowing and then doing something anyway.

But we need to reject something. Otherwise, we stand for nothing.

We are defined by what we choose to reject. And if we reject nothing (perhaps in fear of being rejected by something ourselves), we essentially have no identity at all.