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September 6 - September 10, 2021
Trust those who trust you and distrust those who are suspicious of others.
Just as dyed hair makes older men less attractive, it is what you do to hide your weaknesses that makes them repugnant.
People like to eat fish by the water even if the fish was caught far away and transported by trucks.
They think that intelligence is about noticing things that are relevant (detecting patterns); in a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant (avoiding false patterns).
Happiness: we don’t know what it means, how to measure it, or how to reach it, but we know extremely well how to avoid unhappiness.
It is easier to macrobullshit than to microbullshit.
Mediocre men tend to be outraged by small insults but passive, subdued, and silent in front of very large ones.
It is a sign of weakness to avoid showing signs of weakness.
The only definition of an alpha male: if you try to be an alpha male, you will never be one.
Those who have nothing to prove never say that they have nothing to prove.
The weak shows his strength and hides his weaknesses; the magnificent exhibits his weaknesses like ornaments.
How superb to become wise without being boring; how sad to be boring without being wise.*
The mediocre regret their words more than their silence; finer men regret their silence more than their words; the magnificent has nothing to regret.
It takes some humanity to feel sympathy for those less fortunate than us; but it takes honor to avoid envying those who are much luckier.
We viciously accept narcissism in nation-states, while repressing it in individuals: complexity exposes the system’s shaky moral foundations.
Contra the prevailing belief, “success” isn’t being on top of a hierarchy, it is standing outside all hierarchies.
The classical man’s worst fear was inglorious death; the modern man’s worst fear is just death.
You know you have influence when people start noticing your absence more than the presence of others.
Half the people lie with their lips; the other half with their tears.
You will get the most attention from those who hate you. No friend, no admirer, and no partner will flatter you with as much curiosity.
